Africa's pharmaceutical industry faces numerous challenges, VoA reports

Providing Africans with affordable health care could be realized if pharmaceutical products were produced on the African continent, writes Marthe van der Wolf for Voice of America. The continent faces many challenges before it will be able produce its own medicines.

African and Chinese delegations came together last week at the Roundtable on China-Africa Health Cooperation in Botswana to discuss how Africa can start producing health care products on the continent. This could help African countries provide their citizens with a stable supply of quality medicines.

Feng Zhao of the African Development Bank said that producing locally could bring many benefits for the continent. "If you look at the pharmaceutical sector now, the size is very small compared to the global overall size. Africa is now less than 1 percent of the global share," noted Mr Zhao, adding: "It has a great potential to grow, the average growth rate is expected to be more than 10%." The sector would also create high quality jobs and bring more technology to the continent.