Adoption of western lifestyles in sub-Saharan Africa leading to increased demand for chronic Rx drugs

There has been a paradigm shift in the burden of illness and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) across sub-Saharan Africa, which in turn is driving the demand for chronic prescription drugs.

The growing incidence of more Western lifestyle diseases such as cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer, diabetes and respiratory disease, in addition to infectious and parasitic illness, will present the pharmaceutical industry in Africa with a business opportunity of $40.8 billion in 2019, according to a new report from Frost & Sullivan.

"An increase in health spending will encourage local manufacture of drugs," said transformational health research analyst Starvanan Thangaraj. "We expect this increase in local formulation and filling to be protected by regulatory and tariff barriers, so international players will be looking for local contract manufacturers and other strategic partnerships," he noted.