🔶 Germany’s efforts to expand drug and vaccine production in Africa

At the start of the Global Health Summit in Berlin, Germany’s Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development pledged to provide further support to a fund that invests in African pharmaceutical companies.

Reem Al Abali Radan, Germany’s minister for economic cooperation and development from the Social Democratic Party, said that armed conflicts in many parts of the world, including Ukraine, the Middle East, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, are a threat to health and medical services.

Stating that people affected should not be left to fend for themselves, the German minister said: “That is why, despite difficult budgetary conditions, Germany continues to invest—reliably—in the fight against infectious diseases, children’s vaccination, awareness-raising about pregnancy and contraception, as well as ensuring Africa’s self-sufficiency in providing medicines. This is also in Germany’s own interests.”

One of the main focuses of this year’s Global Health Summit, which is held annually in Berlin, will be the latest outbreak of Ebola.