The European Union Delegation to Nigeria and the Economic Community of West African States hosted private sector participants in Lagos State on Saturday to enhance and expand Nigeria’s ability to produce vaccines, medications, and other health products, the EU said in a statement.
The breakfast meeting with the private sector also focused on increasing efforts to ensure Nigeria is well equipped to provide the necessary workforce for the health sector in the medium term, including in both research and development as well as technical and vocational education and training paths for those in supportive roles.
Speaking during the meeting of the EU with the private sector, the Head of Cooperation, EU Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Massimo De Luca, said the EU is forming sustainable partnerships to increase access to quality, safe, effective, and affordable health products.
He explained that the EU’s efforts are geared towards complementing the government’s efforts through direct grants, contribution agreements, and technical assistance to leverage efforts to address issues in the local manufacturing space.
“There are five work packages. They include skills development through education and training; research and development, including the use of AI and nanotechnology; digitalization of essential dimensions of the ecosystem; a centralized system for forecasting, procurement, and distribution of quality medical products; trade investments; and customs facilitation,” he said.
He further stated that the EU works via TEI MAV+ and other selected interventions with African partners to strengthen their local pharmaceutical systems and manufacturing capacity via a comprehensive 360-degree approach to tackle barriers in 3 key dimensions, including supply and demand sides, whilst creating an enabling environment for sustainable local manufacturing of vaccines and health products.
“Specifically for MAV+, a country window of €18 million will largely focus on 3 specific objectives—skills development, resilient supply value chains, and access to finance and markets for locally produced goods.
“For skills development, the EU will also strengthen collaborative research and innovation, including through cooperation with European research institutes.
“For digitalisation in the supply chain, this will include support to the establishment of bioequivalence and bioavailability facilities, good manufacturing practices, trace and trace, etc.
“For access to finance and markets, a dedicated Human Development Accelerator (HDX) Nigeria country window financing instrument will be available to improve access to finance for health care businesses, in particular for the private sector, to address areas like local production of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), etc.,” he said.
Highlighting the way forward to achieving the set goals, De Luca stated that the EU would maintain close coordination with its member states and private sector via the informal Health Partners Meeting hosted by the EU Delegation in Abuja, bi-monthly.
“We would leverage new financing instruments for private sector engagement, such as the HDX, using equity, debts or guarantees, blended finance, and/or impact financing,” he added.
EU investments in specific health domains include MAV+ (€18m, involving various implementers) to boost skills and jobs; support to public health institutes (€4.2m); furthering actions in Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) (€12.5m—regional); and MAV+ (€5.5m via UNICEF) to support digitalization in the supply chain.
Others are support to SRHR (€40m via UNICEF/UNFPA); the Safe Birth Africa project (€20m multi-country), digital health (€2.9m); MAV+, EIB loan to EMZOR Pharmaceuticals (€14m) to enhance access to finance and markets; and HDX, which is a dedicated financing instrument targeting the private sector.
