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The African Union Commission (AUC) and the Rwandan government reached an agreement on Saturday to construct the first African Medicines Agency’s headquarters in Kigali.
The African Medicines Agency will have its headquarters in Kigali thanks to a contract that Rwanda and the African Union signed on June 10.
The agreement to host the AMA’s headquarters on Rwandan soil was formally announced by the Rwandan government just a few days prior to the signing.
The Agency’s founding treaty was ratified by African nations in 2019; it took effect in 2021.
Its development is a component of the African Union’s plan to lessen the reliance of the continent on pharmaceuticals imported from other nations.
97% of the pharmaceuticals required by Africa are imported.
The agency should control and coordinate this market throughout the continent, promote African production, and combat the trade in fake medications.
Minata Samaté Cessouma, the AU Commissioner for Health, believes that after COVID-19, Africa must be ready for other pandemics, and that the organization’s goal would be to offer “African solutions”.
According to Sabin Nsanzimana, the Rwandan Minister of Health, this is the first step toward the African Medicines Agency becoming active, more than four years after the treaty establishing it was adopted in 2019.
In ten days, in Kigali once more, during the second extraordinary session of the 23 States that have ratified the treaty establishing the agency, staff recruitment will be discussed.
