Biovac’s Breakthrough: AfDB’s $15M Loan for Africa’s First End-to-End Cholera Vaccine Plant Cape Town, South Africa – Biovac, a leading pharmaceutical company in South Africa, has secured a significant $15 million loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to establish Africa’s first end-to-end cholera vaccine manufacturing plant.
The project, set to be completed by 2028, marks a pivotal step towards reducing the continent’s reliance on imported vaccines.
The AfDB’s investment is part of a broader strategy to bolster Africa’s health sovereignty, enhance regional value chains, and improve the continent’s capacity to respond to future health emergencies. This initiative is in line with the African Union’s ambitious goal of producing 60 percent of the continent’s vaccines locally by 2040.
The new facility will not only focus on producing oral cholera vaccines but also aims to expand Biovac’s annual manufacturing capacity to 500 million doses, a substantial increase from its current capabilities. This expansion is poised to make Biovac the first end-to-end producer of oral cholera vaccine in Africa.
The AfDB’s support for Biovac’s project is a testament to its commitment to investing in Africa’s health sector.
The Bank has allocated over $1 billion to healthcare projects across the continent, aiming to improve access to quality healthcare services, strengthen health systems, and promote health research and innovation.
The construction of the new facility is expected to create around 340 full-time jobs, with a focus on employing women (43%) and young people (30%). This emphasis on gender and youth employment is in line with the AfDB’s commitment to inclusive growth and development.
The project also represents a significant step towards regionalizing Africa’s vaccine production. Currently, Africa imports more than 99 percent of its vaccines, despite bearing a disproportionate share of the world’s vaccine-preventable disease burden.
The new facility is expected to help address this imbalance by producing vaccines locally and potentially exporting them to other regions in need.
As the construction of the new facility begins and the countdown to production commences, Biovac and the AfDB are poised to make a lasting impact on the health and well — being of people across the African continent.
*Additional reporting by ImNews | Sources consulted: 5*
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This original article was produced by the ImNews editorial team
Source: Africa.businessinsider
Source: Ayodeji Adegboyega
