President William Ruto pushes Kenya’s bid to become a regional pharmaceutical hub

Added: 2026-05-16

[00:00:00]news desk and we go to our next where President William Ruto earlier today addressed the Africa initiative for medical access and manufacturing on the sidelines of the Africa forward summit currently being held in Nairobi.

[00:00:13]President Ruto highlighted the goal to position Kenya as a regional hub for pharmaceutical manufacturing, health innovation, and medical supply chains serving both the Kenyan and the wider African markets. He added that Kenya is taking deliberate steps to strengthen its pharmaceutical ecosystem by enhancing the capacity of the national regulatory authority to achieve World Health Organization maturity level three, thereby reinforcing global confidence in the quality, safety, and efficacy of Kenyan manufactured products.

[00:00:47]Africa bears as has been said here earlier 25% of the global disease burden despite accounting for less than 20% of the world's population.

[00:00:58]Yet, our continent still produces less than 6% of its medical supplies, only about 1/3 of its pharmaceutical needs, and a mere 1% of the vaccines it consumes.

[00:01:13]And this was starkly reminded to us during the time of COVID.

[00:01:19]This is more than a health gap.

[00:01:23]It is a structural vulnerability.

[00:01:27]Africa's pharmaceutical expenditure stands at approximately $25 per capita compared to a global average of more than $160.

[00:01:38]That disparity reflects not only constrained access, but also underdeveloped markets and limited industrial capacity.

[00:01:50]Across the continent nearly 700 pharmaceutical manufacturers exist including in Kenya. Yet, most remain small and middle and mid-size, fragmented, and concentrated in only a handful of countries.

[00:02:08]This limits scale, limits competitiveness, resilience, and our ability to respond effectively to present and future crisis.