Ethiopia was open to possible donations of vaccines, Lia added, and said the country was not doing any procurement of doses independently but only through the COVAX facility.
COVAX is co-led by the GAVI alliance which secures vaccines for poor countries, the World Health Organization, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and the U.N. Children’s Fund.
African countries are trying to obtain COVID-19 vaccine supplies for their 1.3 billion people even as rich nations elsewhere in the world race ahead with mass immunization campaigns. Only a handful of nations on the continent have begun administering vaccines.
On Tuesday, Lia did not specify which vaccines Ethiopia will be receiving through COVAX.
“We are not getting any specific vaccine we are getting them based on the availability of the COVAX facility,”
The health ministry said on Tuesday the country will need 13 billion Ethiopian birr ($328 million) for vaccines and related expenses, the state-run Ethiopian News Agency said, which will be covered by the government and international donations.
To read the full article click on this link Ethiopia Covid-19 Vaccines
ADDIS ABABA, May 27 (Xinhua) — The Ethiopian government on Monday disclosed that Ethiopia’s Chinese-built Kilinto Industrial Park (KIP) has boosted the country’s ambition to lure experienced international pharmaceutical companies across the globe.
The Ethiopian Investment Commission (EIC) on Monday revealed the signing of investment agreements with 10 international companies that have “shown great interest” to set up their industrial plants inside the premises of KIP.
EIC stressed that the industrial park, once fully finalized, will power the East African country’s potential to attract more foreign companies in the pharmaceutical sector.
“The Kilinto Industrial Park is now on the verge of completion, and once completed it will host more than 1,000 pharmaceutical companies,” EIC Deputy Commissioner Temesgen Telahun was quoted as saying by Ethiopia’s state media Fana Broadcasting Corporate (FBC) on Monday.
Lying on 270-hectares of land on the outskirts of Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, the Kilinto Industrial Park is under construction by Chinese construction giant, Tiesiju Civil Engineering Group Co., Ltd. (CTCEGCL), at a cost of 204 million U.S. dollars.
The industrial park, which is fully financed by the World Bank, features 18-km of asphalt road, provision of basic social services, green spaces, warehouses, business centers and car parking space, according to the Ethiopian Industry Parks Development Corporation (IPDC).
IPDC officials had recently disclosed the Ethiopian government’s plan to commission the Kilinto industrial park for interested and experienced pharmaceutical companies as of June this year.
Adenan Bere, Communications Director at the IPDC, told Xinhua recently that the East African country expects the KIP, which is under construction exclusively for pharmaceutical firms, to lure world-class companies with a view to help Ethiopia’s economy through the export of pharmaceutical products as well as import-substitution.
Bere also noted that in addition to attracting foreign firms to penetrate Ethiopia’s emerging pharmaceutical sector, the IPDC is also working with local financial institutions to support local firms to invest in the industrial park.
As the Ethiopian government in recent years embarked on attracting foreign firms in the pharmaceutical sector, Chinese firms are becoming among the major foreign firms in exerting their capital and technology in the sector.
In June last year, Chinese pharmaceutical giant, Sansheng Pharmaceuticals Plc, had inaugurated its production plant in Ethiopia amid Ethiopia’s higher demand for import substitution in medicines.
Sansheng Pharmaceuticals Plc commenced its first phase of production in June 2018 inside the premises of the Eastern Industry Zone on the outskirt of Ethiopia’s capital.
The Ethiopian government, which has been expressing its concern over the minimal share of local medical drugs production for the country’s domestic use, also stressed the benefits of the Chinese pharmaceutical firm in saving large amount of hard currency through import substitution.
Demeke Mekonnen, Deputy Prime Minister of Ethiopia, said during the plant’s inauguration ceremony that despite the Ethiopian government’s various measures to support the pharmaceutical sector, the “sector has not yet evolved into where we projected it to be — both in terms of its investment portfolio, production capacity, technology acquisition and the creation of employment opportunities.”
He also noted that the sector is still dominated by heavy importation of pharmaceutical products from abroad, which currently represents about 85 percent of the annual 500 million U.S. dollar local market.
“Your investment to Ethiopia could not have come at a more opportune moment,” Mekonnen said.
Ethiopia is currently constructing or has commissioned 15 industrial parks as part of a plan to turn the country into a light manufacturing hub in Africa by 2020.
Chinese companies, which are the leading partners of the Ethiopian government in the construction of industrial parks across the country, are also actively engaging their capital and technologies by investing inside the newly built industrial parks.
Ethiopia had licensed around 1,294 Chinese investment projects during the previous 2017/18 Ethiopian Fiscal Year that ended July 7, constituting around 25 percent of all Foreign Direct Investment to the east African country.
Up to half of the population in Africa lacks access to essential medicines and health services, according to a WHO report “The World Medicines Situation”. The reasons for this span from lack of policies on medicines selection and use to the high price of medicines, lack of sustainable healthcare financing or reliable supply systems.
One of the possible solutions to the problem is to develop local manufacturing capacity and ensure that quality medicines produced nationally are more affordable than imported medicines.
The Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, on 14 July 2015, launched an ambitious 10-year national strategy and plan of action to develop local pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity in order to increase access to locally manufactured, quality-assured medicines. The launch occurred on the side-lines of the 3rd Conference on Financing for Development.
“Access to essential medicines is an integral component of universal health coverage,” said WHO Director-General, Margaret Chan. “I invite all development partners to join WHO in supporting the implementation of this strategic plan over the next 10 years.”
By 2020, the strategy aims to meet 50 percent of the local needs for essential medicines through local manufacturing.
It provides a long-term vision and a plan for the pharmaceutical industry that combines the objectives of industrial development policy and health policy, so the sector can develop, the economy can grow and people can access quality-assured affordable medicines. This 10 year strategy was developed by the Ethiopian Ministries of Health and Trade in collaboration with WHO.
The Deputy Prime Minister of Ethiopia, at the launch of the national strategy, emphasized that “This national strategy and plan of action will contribute significantly to the country’s economic growth and social development,” and called on all partners present and beyond to strengthen partnerships to support the Ethiopian efforts to significantly reduce poverty and become a middle income country by 2025.”
Ethiopia’s increased investments in expanding effective health coverage – grown to 95 % in 2013-14 – have already improved health indicators in the population, reducing child mortality and HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, and have resulted in growing demand for health commodities. At the same time, better performance in industrial and economic policies has spurred foreign and local investments in the pharmaceutical sector.
We are really sorry to inform you that Ethio Health Exhibition and Congress, which was scheduled from 26 – 28 March, 2020 is postponed due to escalating Health concerns relating to the spread of Corona Virus disease (COVID – 2019).
We are really sorry to inform you that Ethio Health Exhibition and Congress, which was scheduled from 26 – 28 March, 2020 is postponed due to escalating Health concerns relating to the spread of Corona Virus disease (COVID – 2019).
While we prepared and fully intending to run the event, we get informed from majority of our international exhibitors that they could not join the event in the scheduled date. Obviously, this was not anticipated due to no cases of Coronavirus in Ethiopia before days, but we faced with a situation where we have no choice. So we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience that it may occur to you. we will keep you updated and we will announce the new dates of the event in the near soon.
