Ghana prepares African pooled procurement market for medicines
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on MyJoyOnline
Illustrative image · SHVETS production · Pexels · Licence PexelsGhana’s National Vaccine Institute and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention are bringing together regional stakeholders to operationalise the African pooled procurement mechanism for medicines. The 10 and 11 November meeting in Accra will bring together about 70 participants and build on a first tender that generated average savings of 45%, according to the National Vaccine Institute.
Ghana’s National Vaccine Institute (NVI) and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) will bring together about 70 participants in Accra on 10 and 11 November to prepare the transition of the African Pooled Procurement Mechanism (APPM) for medicines to a continental market, according to an NVI statement. About 40 participants will represent Member States and regional bodies.
Discussions will cover country enrolment, the APPM product catalogue, technical specifications, demand aggregation and forecasting, quality assurance, regulatory requirements, tendering, as well as financing and the implementation timetable. The first APPM tender, launched in May 2026, covered ten priority medicines for reproductive, maternal, neonatal and child health in ten countries and generated average savings of 45% compared with national benchmarks, with African manufacturers selected for five products.
Ghana signed a memorandum of understanding with Africa CDC on 21 August 2026 to participate in the APPM. According to the NVI, this participation gives qualified Ghanaian manufacturers potential access to a continental market of about 1.4 billion people, beyond the national market of about 33 million inhabitants.
NVI Director-General Dr Sodzi Sodzi-Tettey believes the meeting offers new opportunities for local and continental manufacturers. The APPM forms part of the African Union’s objective of meeting 60% of Africa’s health product needs through local production by 2040, according to the NVI.
