Regional fragmentation and lack of harmonised approval processes across countries are denying Africans timely access to medication and vaccines from India, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical products exporters accounting for 20 percent of all exports in 2023.
According to the Pharmaceutical Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil), the agency tasked with guiding the government’s policy in relation to pharmaceutical exports, medicine and vaccines take on average four to five years longer than necessary before arriving in Africa, owing to fragmentation of approval processes across the continent.
