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Africa urgently needs to increase its vaccine manufacturing capacity to better respond to disease outbreaks, Angola’s President João Lourenço said on Wednesday during emergency talks addressing a deadly cholera surge across the continent.
As the current chairman of the African Union, Lourenço convened virtual discussions with fellow African leaders to tackle a sharp rise in cholera cases affecting several countries, including Angola, Sudan, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“To ensure a robust and sustainable response to this and future crises, it is critical to locate drug and vaccine production on our continent,” Lourenço said. He emphasised that Africa’s heavy reliance on imported medicines and vaccines restricts its ability to respond effectively and undermines its health sovereignty.
The World Health Organization’s director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also took part in the talks.
According to a recent report by Africa’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 90 percent of vaccines, diagnostics, medicines, and other essential health products used in Africa are imported. This dependence has repeatedly hampered timely responses during outbreaks such as Covid-19, Ebola, Marburg, and mpox.
Cholera, an acute intestinal infection, has severely affected multiple African nations this year. Angola alone has recorded over 24,530 cases with 718 deaths as of June 2. Sudan recently reported 172 deaths in a single week amid its ongoing conflict.
The CDC report highlighted that Africa’s health emergencies have surged sharply—from 152 in 2022 to 213 in 2024—exposing the continent’s vulnerability to global trade disruptions, geopolitical tensions, and logistical challenges.
Building local production capacity, Lourenço stressed, is essential to strengthening Africa’s resilience and safeguarding its public health in the face of rising epidemics.
