ABSTRACT
Given the growing interest in achieving self-sufficiency in vaccine and pharmaceutical products for health security, this chapter examines whether regional pharmaceutical production in the East African Community (EAC) is a viable way to increase access to medicine while reducing costs. Policymakers and stakeholders are drawn to the idea of replacing imports with locally produced goods for two reasons: first, as an industrial policy, local production can create jobs for scientists and engineers, facilitate technology transfer, generate government revenue, and diversify economies that are overly reliant on a few sectors; second, as a health policy, local production can ensure a reliable supply of essential medicines to domestic or regional markets and, in theory, contain costs to promote greater accessibility. However, promoting local production as an industrial policy and a health policy simultaneously presents a complex challenge. The COVID-19 pandemic has, however, highlighted the complex interactions between innovation, production, supply, and access, and underscored the EAC's excessive dependence on foreign medicines, which leads to suboptimal health outcomes. Against this backdrop, this chapter examines the challenges and prospects of local pharmaceutical manufacturing in the EAC and advocates for its feasibility while also calling for enhanced regional coordination.
