Enough is enough! It’s time for Africa to produce its own medicines

Saturday, January 25, 2025 — updated on January 31, 2025 - 9 min read

Dr Isaac Opole with Dr Coleen Christmas, the governor of the Maryland Chapter, the American College of Physicians, at the White House in the United States. Dr Opole notes that certain medications are stable and could be manufactured locally.

Photo credit: Pool

By Allan Buluku

Africa should confront the pharmaceutical behemoths of the West by adopting a more assertive approach against unfair policies that threaten the health of its populations. Dr Isaac Opole, President of the American College of Physicians (ACP), has decried the poor state of healthcare on the continent and is urging African governments to collaborate and produce their own medications.

This strategy would help reduce overreliance on donations, which can be unstable due to unpredictable global dynamics and geopolitical tensions. Although some medications are manufactured in Kenya, South Africa, Morocco, and Egypt, Africa imports more than 85 per cent of its medicines.

Over the decades, when demand exceeds supply — especially during pandemics — wealthy countries use their abundant resources to secure priority access to medications over poorer nations. This often leaves millions at risk of infection and death. “Take the example of Covid-19 and the vaccines. Why are we not producing our own vaccines for humans? We already manufacture vaccines for livestock such as cows, cattle, sheep, and goats in Kenya. We need a policy-driven initiative to address the drug crisis by firmly stating: ‘Enough is enough. We will produce these medications ourselves.’ We have a historical precedent with HIV medications in the mid-90s when antiretroviral treatments became life-saving after we achieved breakthroughs in antiviral medications, allowing us to help patients living with HIV,” he explains.

“Screening is crucial for the prevention, early treatment, and management of cancer. For many women in the US who are screened and diagnosed early with breast cancer, it is no longer a death sentence. Similarly, men diagnosed with prostate cancer through early screening and treatment often do not face a death sentence either; many end up dying from other conditions. Therefore, early screening is the most important factor. Unfortunately, even among my friends and family, many people ignore the importance of screening, often thinking, ‘If I don’t check, I won’t find anything’. We can develop a culture of screening, much like Kenya has fostered a robust culture of fitness. People are participating in marathons, and Karura Forest is filled with joggers and walkers. We should cultivate the same passion for screening as we do for cardiovascular fitness and health,” he notes.

“I don’t necessarily believe that there has been an increase in cancer cases. What is likely happening is that we now have the technological capability to identify cancers that we weren't able to detect before. Modern medicine has advanced significantly, allowing us to identify many more cancer cases than we could in the past. With the help of imaging, scanning, screening, and blood tests, we can diagnose cancer much earlier and reach more people than ever before. There may be a slight rise in cases due to lifestyle changes. Many people are living different lifestyles from those of previous generations, and we face increased exposure to environmental pollutants, chemicals, and dietary products that may be harmful. I can’t deny that these factors probably contribute to the issue. However, we also have sophisticated diagnostic tools that help us identify cancers more effectively than in the past,” explains Dr Opole.

“We are not perfect. Physicians make their best educated guesses based on the information provided by patients. For instance, if a patient comes in with a fever, headaches, and back pain after traveling to Mombasa, a doctor might conclude that it is likely malaria. This is a best guess given the symptoms and context. However, we are often not precise, especially when relying solely on our knowledge. At my hospital, we have a highly sophisticated laboratory. If a patient presents with a lump on their throat, we can scan it and determine that we need to take a biopsy. Once we take the biopsy, it is sent to the lab, where the sample is sliced and examined under microscopes, often using various stains and antibodies for analysis. Sometimes, the pathology report returns with findings indicating that certain features are present. For example, it might say, ‘65 per cent of the time, this is associated with X lymphoma’. Even after all the steps are followed correctly, including the biopsy and lab analysis, the result
s still indicate a probability rather than a definitive diagnosis.

“The situation has become more complicated with the advanced technology available today. I feel a strong connection to my community in Kenya because many of them practice medicine in environments where they lack the resources I have access to here. They often have to make educated guesses and choose the best possible options for treating their patients. Therefore, when we encounter cases of misdiagnosis, it's important to understand that they are not due to a lack of knowledge or skill. Until we provide our physicians with the necessary tools to reduce such cases, they will continue to occur. Physicians are not perfect and do not have an encyclopedic knowledge of everything. Often, they have to offer their best guess based on the information available about what is happening in your body.”