Tanzania aims to double domestic drug production

Local pharma manufacturers in Tanzania have targeted increasing production capacity by 50% by 2015 hoping to reduce importation of medicines currently standing at more than 70%, reports the Tanzania Daily News.

The move is part of the strategies envisaged by the Federation of East African Pharmaceutical Manufacturers which was formed last year. The upshot is to make sure the country and counterparts in the East African region produce sufficient medicines.

Speaking to the Daily News at the weekend, Federation chairman and managing director of local drugmaker Tanzania Pharmaceutical Industries Ramadhani Madabida said that shortage of human medicines in the country was a major issue that needed to be jointly tackled by all stakeholders. “With the exception of Tanzania and Kenya, where manufacturers can produce at least 30% of the total local needs, the situation was even worse in other member states and it is high time we struggled to come out of this situation,” he said.