The firm said on  April 11 that it was assessing the future demand for Covid-19 vaccines. Moderna’s decision comes after questions over delays in acquiring land for the project in a special economic zone on the outskirts of Nairobi, the country’s capital. 

The company said it has not received vaccine orders from Africa since 2022 and has seen orders worth over $1 billion cancelled as risks associated with the virus wane. 

“Given this, and in alignment with our strategic planning, Moderna believes it is prudent to pause its efforts to build an mRNA manufacturing facility in Kenya. This approach will allow Moderna to better align its infrastructure investments with the evolving healthcare needs and vaccine demand in Africa,” the company said in a statement on Thursday.

Moderna has been working on several other vaccines based on mRNA technology, including cancer, shingles, and HIV. It recently announced a breakthrough in the development of a vaccine for cancer.

The company’s move is a blow to President William Ruto, who, since coming to power, has been courting foreign firms to drive his manufacturing agenda. In 2023, the Moderna deal accounted for the largest portion of Kenya’s $861 million in foreign direct investments (FDI).  

The facility, which was to be Moderna’s first manufacturing plant in Africa, was expected to position Kenya as a pharmaceutical and vaccines hub in the region with a capacity to produce 500 million doses annually.

Logistics is the backbone of international trade; without a working system of moving goods around the world, trade would be hindered. In the African tech ecosystem, investment in tech-enabled transportation and logistics start-ups in Africa has increased since 2015. Last year, a total of $388 million was invested in the sector, and over 30 transport and logistics companies secured funding, making the sector part of the top 5 by funding on the continent.

There are, however, some major challenges that still linger in the ecosystem, such as complex custom processes, heavy import costs and intra-trade barriers, high shipment levels, and port handling charges, among others. 

At a webinar titled “ What’s the future of logistics in African markets?” on Friday, July 15, TechCabal sought to seek out solutions to this complicated conundrum from the perspective of industry experts. 

The conversation shed light on the current bottlenecks and the avenues to bypass them. Speaking at the event were Miishe Addy, co-founder and CEO, Jetstream Africa: Mark Mwangi, founder and CEO, Amitruck; Louis Yaw Afful – executive director, AfCFTA Policy Network; and Tola Onayemi – CEO, Norebase.

On the relationship between infrastructure and logistics

When asked what the biggest problem with logistics in Africa was, Miishe Addy, said “ The number one problem, and I don’t like to be shy about this at all, is infrastructure.” 

Speaking particularly about her country, ___, she added: “ If there was better connectivity between the fragmented economies and even within certain countries, [it would enhance] the ability to transit trade from the bottom of the country where the port is to the top of the country where often a lot of agriculture is produced. The investment in infrastructure would tremendously accelerate trade.”

It is no secret that Africa has an infrastructural deficit, and this problem has been a roadblock to the development of trade and the ease of logistics on the continent. While there have been concerted efforts to improve the situation at hand, such as the 2018 African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), there is still room for improvement. 

On the effect of the pandemic

The COVID-19 lockdown slowed down the global economy as goods and people could not move as freely as they once could. According to Addy, the pandemic brought a massive, complete meltdown of global supply chains. “That meltdown was in some cases caused by government decisions to shut down certain ports that are critical in the movement of cargo, especially in China, which, as many of you probably know, is Africa’s biggest trading partner on the import side,” she added.

She added that the long-term effects are making it more difficult for importers and exporters to trade, citing effects such as inflation in the global economy and countries like Nigeria and Ghana experiencing currency devaluations. 

On innovative solutions for the development of Africa’s logistics sector

According to Mwangi, the continent needs more innovative social and regulatory solutions. He highlighted the need to embrace things such as the African Free Trade Zone agreement and harmonise border crossings. He also noted difficulties such as the varying requirements each African country has when it comes to customs checks, the banking industry, and road regulations which create obstacles for players in the transport sector. 

He added that technology can help make things faster by having some harmony or some common themes, and this would make things a lot easier for innovators in the space.

On the African Continental Free Trade Area

Speaking on the AfCFTA, Afful said that the need for African countries to boost intra-African trade was the driving force behind the AfCFTA. He pointed out that the 5 main areas that stand to benefit from the AfCTA agreement are transport and logistics, pharmaceuticals, agribusiness, the automotive industry, and ICT. He also mentioned that considering implementation, the continent still has a long way to go.

According to Afful, the first roadblock to the implementation of the AfCTA agreement is the lack of will in the member states to implement the agreement. Member states do not trade with each other and prefer to trade outside Africa, and this, in his opinion, is one of the significant roadblocks holding Africa back. He also advocated for member states to enact legislative instruments that would speed up the adoption of the agreement. The final roadblock that he raised was the lack of sensitisation on the matter. He wants member states to create agencies and institutions that are going to sensitise the people, the associations, and the trade groups, about what AfCFTA is and what it brings.

On the nuances that make intra-continental trade difficult in Africa

Onayemi said that major issues like payments, transportation, regulation, lack of a uniform set of standards and the fact that there are over 40 different currencies on the continent make it difficult for goods to move from one part of the continent to the other. According to him, due to the history of colonisation, it is easier to get goods from the Ivory Coast to France than it is to get goods from the Ivory Coast to Nigeria. He blamed a lack of historical routes for this and mentioned that these difficult processes are the reason why intra-continental trade in Africa can be better. 

He wants lawmakers to work with actual businesses to create the foundation that will allow a large uniform market to grow. Onayemi and Addy emphasised the desire for data to lead the development of infrastructure on the continent. 

You can watch the whole session on Youtube here.

In Namibia, the pandemic also affected retail shops. The government had locked down the country without making adequate palliative plans to support its people during the period. Taxis didn’t run and shop owners couldn’t transport themselves to and fro their suppliers for goods. 

In the midst of the crisis, it soon became apparent that Namibia had a broken supply chain.

One man, David Akinin, who once worked in the construction industry as a founder, decided to intervene. He loaded his truck with food and essential supplies and drove around, selling them to people—a sort of mobile retail shop. They were grateful for his intervention. But it wasn’t enough; informal shops needed to reopen. 

Akinin’s idea to provide food and essentials to people during lockdown gave birth to a company—Jabu. “When you’re building something and people start thanking you for it, you know you’ve found something great,” Akinin told TechCabal on a call.

Jabu partnered with local and multinational suppliers to deliver their goods directly to informal retailers across Namibia. In the process, they faced a challenge: it was difficult to locate retailers who didn’t have registered or verified addresses. The startup then worked with local community leaders to register retailers in their area and log the GPS location of each shop in the Jabu app. Within 2 weeks they identified the location of 1,000 shops.

Headquartered in Namibia, with operations in Zambia, Jabu is a data-driven e-commerce startup that helps small retailers with sourcing products and inventory management. Its platform connects over 6,000 retailers to local and international suppliers; and digitises their orders, payments, and logistics. The startup currently operates out of 5 cities and 9 sites.

Mid-2021, Jabu raised $3.2 million in seed funding, led by Afore Capital, with participation from Y Combinator, FJ Labs, Quiet Capital, Kli Capital, Pareto Capital, and unnamed angel investors. 

The funding makes Jabu the first Namibian startup to be backed by YC. 

Sceptical investors

Akinin, who is founder and CEO of Jabu, is originally from Venezuela but has lived in Namibia for 9 years. When he got on the call with TechCabal, he was outdoors, seated in a veranda overlooking vibrant greenery. He was in Zambia, he said, where Jabu had opened an office in November last year. He would later reveal that it had been raining a lot in the Zambian capital, Lusaka, affecting Jabu’s fleet operations.

The supply chain problem Jabu has set out to solve is a thorny one, and the solution it is building is critical to economic development. Yet, for a long time, the startup struggled to attract investment. “Our first challenge was getting investors to recognise the country,” Akinin said. “I’m sure a lot of people, on their first call, looked up Namibia on the map!”

Investors Akinin approached were concerned about Jabu’s potential to scale in Namibia, a country whose economy went into recession in 2016 and has been struggling to recover ever since.

At the onset of the pandemic, the African Development Bank Group (ADBG) projected that the Namibian economy would shrink by 7.9% in 2020, due to an expected decline in activity in mining, agriculture, construction, hospitality, and tourism. Post-lockdown, the decline actually happened. Namibia’s GDP dropped by 8.5% in 2020, and the population of its poor has now hit a record high of 1.6 million persons. 

Now, although the economy is expected to make a rebound, albeit a slow one—with growth projected at 1.2% in 2021 and 2.4% in 2022—one can see that the country has had a rough few years, which may have caused it to miss out on the Great Venture Capitalist Influx Africa has recorded in the last 3–4 years.

Moreover, it is well known that venture capitalists (VC) channel most of their African investment towards startups in South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, and Kenya. These countries—dubbed the Big Four—are Africa’s busiest tech markets; compared to them, Namibia has a tiny population—2.5 million persons, where Nigeria has 206 million, Egypt 102 million, South Africa 59 million, and Kenya 53 million. 

And so, it is against this backdrop that investors were concerned about Jabu’s scalability. Their recurring question was whether Namibia could produce a startup that could be worth $100 million in returns, and Akinin’s answer—precise each time—was yes.

“A huge responsibility”

Reflecting on Jabu being the first Namibian startup to be backed by YC, Akinin said, “It feels like such a huge responsibility, for us, towards an ecosystem that has been trying, for a long time, to raise awareness about the great things happening in Namibia. But it’s a good opportunity to bring people into the Namibian ecosystem and onto our platform. It’s inspiration for other companies still pushing hard and hoping to get more money this year.”

Akinin believes that the Namibian startup scene will get more funding attention now because there is an “an openness to innovation” from both local founders and investors. “Investors around the world are opening their eyes to the understanding that there is opportunity in Namibia. I served as an ambassador of what’s happening on the ground and was fortunate to have been able to share that story with investors.”

A tale of 2 countries

For a young startup, Akinin and his team remain undaunted by the challenges associated with operating in 2 different markets. For starters, they are dealing with unstable infrastructure in both Zambia and Namibia. And while there are frequent power outages in Lusaka, unlike in Windhoek, in both countries, more than half of Jabu’s customers are in places without tarred roads, making logistics difficult: “You can see why the supply chain does not exist, in the first place,” Akinin said. “Because there are no roads to the places we need to reach. We’ve had to map roads that didn’t exist previously in order to create a route to market.” 

In Lusaka, incessant rains have made movement on potholed roads near-impossible—“It has got to the point where I’m willing to invest in paving the road in front of our warehouse, just so that our vehicles can move smoothly.” 

He described Lusaka as a “billboard city” but is unsure yet how to leverage that fact for Jabu’s growth in the country. “There’s advertising everywhere,” he said. “Marketing and branding are a really different experience to what we have in Windhoek. We’re very excited about getting to know it and taking some learnings from it back to Namibia.”

On to the next round

African e-commerce startups have recorded an impressive spike in VC funding since 2019, raising nearly $90 million dollars in 2020, up from $47.5 million in 2019. Between Q2 2020 and Q2 2021, the total value of raises by e-commerce startups hit $140 million. The spike in funding may have been triggered by the lockdown, as the pandemic emphasised the gaps in the supply chain of many industries, forcing e-commerce entrepreneurs to innovate around the problem. 

Following its raise last year, Jabu is looking to expand to other countries in Southern Africa—Botswana, South Africa, Lesotho, and Eswatini. The path to this expansion is still being developed and fine-tuned by the team. For now, however, Akinin’s focus is on raising for Series A and consolidating his company’s operations in Zambia.

Both women went to the hospital and there tested positive for COVID-19. They were then placed on medication and advised to self-isolate. Now, their gateman Bosun*, who must have caught the virus from them, thought he had malaria and got on antimalarial medications. But, after a week, his symptoms persisted, so he decided to switch medicines to honey, ginger, and turmeric mixed in hot water, as advised by a friend.

According to the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Nigeria entered the 4th wave of COVID-19 in December, reporting 223,887 cases and 2,985 deaths in its 36 states and federal capital Abuja. This is an over-500% increase. 

The surge in COVID-19 cases during the December festive period may be attributed to 2 major factors: the mass of unquarantined people that came into Nigeria from abroad, especially into Lagos; and the several crowded gatherings where social distancing practices were not observed.

In the case of Adaobi and her mother, Adaobi had attended several crowded outdoor activities in December and her mother had just returned from a business trip in Europe, so it’s difficult to determine who infected who. 

Like Bosun, many Nigerians are ignorant of the symptoms of COVID-19. On top of that, many people do not see a doctor whenever they feel sick, preferring instead to self-medicate, with the belief that they have “ordinary malaria”. This is what’s currently happening in Lagos and, according to Remedial Health, a healthtech startup that improves access to original medicines by creating a direct supply chain between retailers and manufacturers or registered distributors, Lekki Phase 1—one of the highbrow  areas of Lagos—is at the center of it all.

Remedial Health founder and CEO, Samuel Okwuada, told TechCabal over a call that their company saw a 250% increase in orders for anti-malarial drugs in December last year from pharmacies and chemists in Lekki Phase 1. 

“It started around November but peaked in December. We noticed that customers in Lekki Phase 1 that would normally order 20 packs of antimalarial drugs for sale within 3–4 days were now ordering 60–70 packs every 1–2 days,” said Okwuada. “When we asked the manufacturers for more products and they told us they’d reached their production limit, we realised this is more serious than we thought.”

Drugs like Artemether & Lumefantrine and Vitamin C saw about 250% and 130% increase, respectively, in demand. This continual spike in demand of antimalarial drugs—which is still happening—led Remedial Health to investigate the cause. Their conversations with pharmacists on the frontline suggests that some of the symptoms reported by customers are more consistent with COVID-19 than malaria. 

A sore throat is not indicative of malaria but it is one of the major symptoms of COVID-19.

“The number of COVID-19 cases in Lekki is overwhelming. When these people come to the clinic, they always complain of malaria but test positive for COVID-19,” said a lab scientist who works at a testing centre in Lekki and who spoke to TechCabal anonymously. 

Another resident of Lekki Phase 1 jokingly said he suspects everybody in Lekki has the virus already. “That’s an old story now. It’s just another malaria symptom,” he said.

The importance of data in combating the virus 

It’s no more news that healthcare institutions around the globe are using data to design better pandemic responses and train frontline staff. Without appropriate data, misinformation and conspiracy theories about the virus will flood the media and undermine efforts to sensitise the public. 

The World Health Organisation’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, once said, “We’re not just fighting a pandemic; we’re fighting an infodemic.” 

Governments across the world are using data to drive COVID-19 innovation to mend the economic stress, misinformation, and division the virus has unleashed on the world. In Nigeria, the Global Partnership UNECA worked with the country’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) to create a comprehensive data hub to show where cases of COVID-19 were occurring and what support might be needed.

In Togo, the government is using artificial intelligence, via GiveDirect-Novissi COVID-19 Aid, to collect and collate data of the poorest communities in order to provide them with contactless financial aid through mobile money.

According to a Reuter data, COVID-19 infections are decreasing in Nigeria, with 94 new infections reported on average each day. That’s 5% of the peak—the highest daily average reported on December 27. Okwuada, the lab scientist and some Lekki residents that spoke to TechCabal believes that these numbers are underreported and that is evident from the case of people like Bosun. Where’s their own number? However, even though data is not a direct antidote to the virus and not always correct, Okwuada believes it’s a strong fighting instrument. He said data is essential to curbing the spread of the virus and, possibly, ending the disease altogether.

But, within the continent, the magnitude of the crisis has been uneven by country. One of the lesser affected countries is Togo. The French-speaking country has, so far, recorded 31,500 infections and 250 deaths from COVID, per data from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC)—relatively lenient nominal figures compared to Nigeria’s or South Africa’s.

In the small West African country of about 8 million people and a gross domestic product of around $7.5 billion, locally-led digital solutions have been crucial to authorities’ efforts to curb the pandemic’s reach.

Last month, Togo’s Ministry of Digital Economy and Transformation, led by Havard graduate and former World Bank analyst Cina Lawson, unveiled the latest in an expanding list of mobile-based solutions to help Togolese tide over the pandemic.

A new mobile application, PassCovid19TG, allows the population to easily upload, access, and present their COVID-19-related health information. Documents such as vaccination certificates, PCR tests, and the Togolese or European Union COVID Pass, whether in digital or paper format, can be uploaded on the app via scanning their QR codes.

By using smartphones to present COVID digital certificates, the new application is expected to facilitate and improve the control and checking of health passes in Togo, where people have to present passes before they’re allowed into public spaces, from airports and worship centres to restaurants and bars.

“The PassCovid19TG can also be used when travelling, to check in advance the validity of the Pass in the country of destination, particularly in the European Union area,” said Lawson, who’s overseen the creation of several technological solutions that have helped Togo effectively handle the COVID-19 crisis better than its wealthier, larger, and supposedly more tech-savvy regional neighbours, Nigeria and Ghana.

Like much of the rest of Africa, COVID lockdowns and restrictions threatened livelihoods in Togo, a country where pre-pandemic per capita GDP was less than $700 in 2019 and average income below $2 a day. Per World Bank estimates, about 62% of jobs in the country were affected by the crisis, particularly in the informal sector, which employs the majority of Togo’s labour force outside of the agricultural sector.

Faced with the threat of worsened poverty amid rising unemployment and dwindling income, the government in April 2020 launched a program called Novissi (meaning “solidarity” in the local Ewe language)—a mobile money-based cash transfer scheme to help those most economically affected by the pandemic.

More than 1.6 million Togolese registered for the monetary support through their mobile phones, according to data on the Novissi website. Led by Lawson, the digital ministry then used voter identification data to select beneficiaries by targeting some 600,000 people who listed themselves as “informal workers” in urban areas, an indication they were likely to be poor.

But with the government unable to support every one of the millions of informal workers, identifying the poorest citizens in the rural parts of the country required more sophisticated solutions. Togo turned to satellite imagery and artificial intelligence.

With the help of researchers at the University of California and the US-based NGO GiveDirectly, the government was able to identify the poorest 100 cantons in the country through satellite imagery data. It then analysed mobile phone data from primary network providers to identify users in those areas with patterns that suggested they were living under the poverty line.

“We chose a fully digital approach, which makes it possible to directly reach beneficiaries through mobile payments while guaranteeing traceability and transparency,” Lawson’s statement on the Novissi website reads. “The solution represents a real methodological break with the past and foreshadows the way in which social safety nets and cash transfer programs will henceforth be implemented in our country.”

Lomé has so far distributed around CFA13.3 billion (over $22 million) directly into the mobile wallets of more than 800,000 people in different communities suffering from the crisis, according to official data. Women make up the majority of beneficiaries—over 500,000—and received more ($22) in single 3–5 monthly cash transfers than men ($20).

“People should not have to choose between death by COVID-19 or by hunger,” President Faure Gnassingbe said on the Novissi programme. “Other African leaders could also use a similar mobile-based, cash transfer scheme.” Anit Mukherjee, a policy fellow at the Centre for Global Development, in this Bloomberg article claims Novissi makes even America’s COVID cash transfer programme look like a “dinosaur”.

Around three months after launching the Novissi scheme and as reported COVID cases surged in Togo with the emergence of the more contentious and deadly Delta variant, the government launched a COVID contact-tracing application, Togo Safe, to initiate, in real-time, the health protocol needed to contain the virus’s spread.

The web and mobile-based platform relies on digital geolocation to track infected individuals and immediately issues notifications to others whenever they come in contact with those who’d tested positive for the virus. 

On the app, Togolese can also view the number of COVID cases in their area as well as get access to health advice and a directory of useful pandemic-related hotlines.

Togo’s tech-savvy approach to handling the pandemic extends to vaccination efforts. Within a week of receiving 156,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines from the COVAX facility last March, the country was able to vaccinate 98% of its health workers with the help of a system that relied on digital channels to reach people across the country. 

Authorities launched a mobile and web-based service that allows Togolese to register for vaccination using their phones. An individual just has to dial the shortcode *844# from a local number and complete necessary steps, after which they receive a 14-digit code to be shown at the health centre for vaccination. 

In a month, more than 50,000 people had registered for vaccination through SMS and the website. Togo currently has the second-highest vaccination rate in West Africa, after Cape Verde.

The digital-driven response appears to be effective, keeping COVID infection rates in Togo at low levels so far while the poverty rate only rose marginally in 2020. It’s also attracted international attention and recognition. On the COVID Performance Index developed by the Australian think tank, Lowy Institute, the West African country was ranked the 2nd to best handle the crisis in Africa, and the 15th globally. Many African countries have shown interest in replicating Novissi, Lawson told Bloomberg.

Togo may not be known for tech startups with global appeal and recognition or billions in venture funding, but the country has ambitions to become a digital hub by 2025, riding on the penetration of mobile connections. As of January 2021, more than 80% of the population had a mobile phone.

Considering the manner in which the government has been able to leverage ICTs in its COVID response, Damien Mama, who was United Nations Resident Coordinator in Togo until September 2021, believes the small West African nation is on track to improving its economy with digital technologies.

“The digital sector is without a doubt one of the most promising means to achieve the sustainable development goals in a small country with big ambitions like Togo,” the UN official said in a post.

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Africa’s pandemic-induced bid to increase its share of vaccines manufactured in the continent has begun attracting foreign investors.

Already, German and Chinese investors have expressed interest in boosting local production capacity both in terms of funding projects and skills transfer in preparation for a vaccine “revolution”.

Germany-based BioNtech last week affirmed its June plans of bringing its manufacturing to Africa following a meeting with Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, Senegal’s President Macky Sall and Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission.

The COVID-19 vaccine maker said it has begun evaluating the possibilities of setting up malaria and tuberculosis vaccine production sites in Rwanda and Senegal.

“Our goal is the development of vaccines in Africa and the set-up of sustainable vaccine production capabilities to jointly improve the quality of medical care,” said Ugur Sahin, CEO and co-founder of BioNTech.

BioNtech said it was committed to investing in cutting-edge research and innovation to support vaccine development, the establishment of manufacturing facilities, and the transfer of manufacturing expertise to production sites on the continent.

Werner Hoyer, President of the European Investment Bank welcomed the new partnership saying the lender will “stand ready to provide technical experience and financial backing in the coming months.”

Chinese private sector investors have listed ‘speed up local manufacturing in the African medical industry alongside the unification of African standards’ among key topics for the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC 2021) meeting, scheduled for later in the year.

“Local manufacturing is vital to African economies, a challenge made especially clear with the supply restrictions that have arisen during the COVID19 pandemic,” according to the latest China-Africa Business Council Report, titled, “Market Power and Role of the Private Sector”.

While many African countries have attractive policies for the medical industry, the report says that policies vary greatly among African countries and there is a lack of mutual recognition, which reduces the willingness of foreign-funded enterprises to invest in
Africa on a large scale.

“Establishing the AU and African regional organizations, the African Medicines Agency (AMA) and the AU technical standards certification organization as quickly as possible will be very useful and will complement renewed efforts from the Chinese side to encourage investment in local manufacturing of pharmaceutical and medical products, rather than export,” says the report.

BioNtech focus on Malaria and TB vaccines bodes well with Partnerships for African Vaccine Manufacturing (PAVM) target of prioritising endemic and outbreak-prone diseases including HIV/Aids that accounts for high number of deaths in the continent to increase Africa’s manufacturing from current 1 percent to 60 percent by 2040.

“The ambition is to leverage new technology in support of a sustainable manufacturing industry on the continent. This initiative joins others across the continent in pushing forward this vision,” said John Nkengasong, Director of Africa CDC.

In 2017, African Union heads of state and government committed to end AIDS, TB and malaria by 2030.

In July, the United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) in collaboration with the World Bank Group, Germany, and France, announced a joint investment to boost vaccine manufacturing capacity in Africa.

On the cards under this partnership was a financial arrangement that would see a South African business – Aspen Pharmacare – ramp up its manufacturing capacity and produce more than 500 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine by the end of 2022.

A research paper published by the Tony Blaire Institute for Global Change in April shows there are seven other African countries with various capacities, ranging from manufacturing, to fill and finish (the process of filling vials with vaccine and finishing the process of packaging the medicine for distribution), to distribution.

Senegal exports a WHO pre-qualified vaccine, through the Institut Pasteur de Dakar that produces small quantities of yellow fever vaccines while Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia and Ethiopia – are among countries positioned to provide fill and finish.

The Egyptian government’s vaccine manufacturer is reportedly finalizing a public-private deal with Sinovac to produce Covid-19 vaccine.

Nigeria is investing heavily in research and development with plans to leverage a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model to manufacture, among others, COVID-19 and HIV, yellow fever, measles, hepatitis B vaccines.

Vaccine manufacturing in Africa, a report from UK Aid, also shows Algeria has the capacity to do substance manufacturing for rabies vaccine and distribute other imported vaccines.

South Africa, which has historically led much of Africa’s vaccine production through its public-private partnership with Biovac, has over the last five years invested in modernizing facilities and upskilling staff to ramp up manufacturing capacity, says
the paper.

South Africa’s Aspen Pharmacare announced in late July that it had started releasing the first Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines created at its Gqeberha-based manufacturing site.

The supplies would be “the first COVID-19 vaccines to be produced on the African continent, by an African producer for South African and African patients. Supplies will also be made to the European Union and other offshore markets,” the South African multinational said on its website.

UK Aid estimates Africa’s vaccine market to be worth 1.3 billion dollars, with projections for it to reach a value of 2.35 billion dollars by 2030.

But the telecoms industry bucked the trend as operators recorded a collective revenue of ₦2.88 trillion compared to ₦2.516 trillion made in 2019. This is according to the recently released 2020 Subscribers/Network Data Report by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

The report further disclosed that revenue generated by GSM operators increased by 12.33%, from the ₦2.02 trillion recorded in the previous year to ₦2.27 trillion.

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) generated ₦68.96 billion in revenues, up 28.31% from ₦53.75 billion in 2019. 

Other telecom operators made ₦534.69 billion, compared to ₦437.49 billion in 2019 while fixed operators made ₦8.43 billion from ₦6.04 billion.

In addition to increased revenues, the industry was also able to keep operating costs stable. Operating expenses in 2020 stood at ₦1.783 trillion, less than a 1% increase from ₦1.782 trillion in 2019.

Covid-19, a blessing in disguise for telecoms

The global coronavirus crisis has proved to be a blessing for network operators. Government-imposed lockdown measures meant Nigerians had to stay indoors, giving them ample time to spend on social media. 

Businesses too were forced to switch to alternative working models, essentially conducting the bulk of their operations through the internet.

Corporate meetings and events took place via virtual platforms such as Zoom, seminars became webinars, music concerts moved online, and schools to channels like WhatsApp.

Nigerians consumed high volumes of online content as streaming platforms like Netflix and social media comedians took centre stage in entertainment.

These Covid-triggered trends translated to increased patronage of network operators.

Between March and November 2020, data usage in Nigeria rose from 147,537.52 terabytes to 196,163.42 terabytes. Within the same period, the number of internet subscribers also increased by 13.77%, from 135.7 million to 154.4 million. 

On a year-on-year basis, the total number of active internet subscriptions increased from 125.98 million as of December 2019 to 154.29 million by the end of December 2020, an increase of 22.5%. Meanwhile, broadband penetration increased further last year to reach a peak of 45.93%.

“The increase in data usage is directly linked to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, which disrupted normal activities, and most functions had to be held virtually including schools and corporate meetings,” the NCC report said. 

The significant growth seen in the telecoms industry helped to lift the Nigerian economy out of recession in the fourth quarter of 2020, contributing 12.45% to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The NCC further revealed that mobile network operators (MNOs) received massive investments in the 4G rollout of services, which resulted in improved growth. 

However, the report shows capital importation/foreign direct investment (FDI) into the industry fell by more than half (55.7%) in 2020, from $942.86 billion in 2019 to $417.48 billion. 

Similarly, domestic investment/capital expenditure (CAPEX) dropped by 18.62%. The declines in FDI and CAPEX are attributed to the outbreak of the Covid-19 disease, which distorted global businesses and impacted economies.

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The Dakar-based centre is partnering with Bionote, a South Korean company that provides diagnostic solutions for Covid-19, and Mologic, a British biotech company set to be acquired by a Bill Gates-backed consortium.

An antigen test is regarded as a suitable ‘first line of defense’ against the coronavirus disease for individuals who have symptoms. It is a simpler and quicker procedure compared to other approaches like PCR testing.

A typical antigen testing takes around 15 minutes to determine whether a patient is infected, although it is less accurate than PCR, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The agreement between Pasteur and the companies was disclosed in a statement from two international health agencies, UNITAID and FIND, a global alliance for diagnostics, as reported by Reuters.

“High-quality antigen tests are the primary diagnostic tool for detecting active infection in poorer settings where molecular testing is not available,” the statement read.

Under the deal, the technology and expertise for making the Covid tests will be passed from the foreign pharmaceutical giants to Pasteur’s DiaTROPIX, a diagnostic test production unit launched in November. The goal is to boost Covid detection in Africa.

“Expanded production capacity in local and regional hubs is critical to ensuring that healthcare providers in low- and middle-income countries can implement effective testing strategies to contain the spread of the virus,” UNITAID spokesman Herve Verhoosel, said.

DiaTROPIX will seek regulatory approval in Senegal for the tests transferred from Mologic and Bionote and commercialise them under its own brand. It plans to make 2.5 million tests per month in 2022, according to the statement.

Unprecedented surge in infections

Compared to its regional peers like South Africa and Nigeria, Senegal has seen fewer coronavirus-related cases and deaths. 

Dakar has so far recorded more than 52,000 infections and 1,220 deaths since the outbreak started. The numbers pale in comparison to South Africa’s (2.24 million infections and 65,000+ deaths) and Nigeria’s (169,000+ infections and 2,000+ deaths).

However, the rapid antigen test deal involving the Pasteur Institute comes at a time when Senegal is grappling with soaring coronavirus cases. 

According to health ministry spokesman Mamadou Ndiaye, the West African nation was seeing an “unprecedented” surge in Covid infections. He said this after a new daily record of 733 cases was recorded, beating the previous record of 529 cases.

More than 25% of the 2,854 tests carried out in the past 24 hours to Wednesday came back positive, according to Ndiaye.

Vaccinations have been slow, making Senegal vulnerable to fresh surges. Out of over 16 million people, only 590,969 have been vaccinated. Senegal lacks enough doses to vaccinate everyone, like most African countries.

Senegalese authorities are expecting 165,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccine and 300,000 doses of China’s Sinopharm shots, Ndiaye said.

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In African countries, the procurement process for vaccines has typically been the sole responsibility of the government. This announcement raised questions on why and how mPharma were involved.

In a conversation with TechCabal, Gregory Rockson explained its involvement in vaccine procurement and mPharma’s bigger picture for vaccination in Africa.

Rockson first pointed out that the company’s efforts to support the government started in February 2020, at the start of the pandemic.

“We started by looking at how to improve the testing process. About 40% of healthcare delivery takes place in the private healthcare sector so while the testing was being done for free by the government, it was clear the government couldn’t do this alone,” he said.

The $3 million molecular diagnostic fund

To help support the testing process, mPharma established a $3 million molecular diagnostic fund. The purpose of this fund was to invest in private hospitals in Ghana and Nigeria, helping to equip their existing laboratories with necessary molecular diagnostic equipment to test for COVID-19. 

“The biggest gap we saw at the beginning of the pandemic was that our laboratory infrastructure did not have a diagnostic capability. Beyond testing for COVID, most molecular diagnostic work was not happening in Ghana. For example tests like the HPV DNA test and hepatitis viral test only took place in the public sector,” he said. 

mPharma created a risk-sharing agreement where the necessary equipment was given to the companies at no cost and no liability to pay back. In exchange, a revenue split was agreed upon for every test done using the equipment. 

“So if we provided the equipment and the private hospitals made zero revenue, we got nothing. Back then the government was testing everyone for free. In February, in response to the decision we made, people were saying, are we really going to have people pay for the COVID test when the government is doing it for free. Now everyone goes to private labs,” he said.

When the second wave of the pandemic hit, over 60% of all COVID tests done in Ghana were done on the infrastructure that mPharma built in the private hospitals according to Rockson.

He pointed out that before these labs were equipped, the cost of an HPV DNA test for cervical cancer was $80. This was because the samples had to be taken to South Africa for two weeks and the results sent back but today the cost of that test is $30. 

The success of the $3 million molecular diagnostic fund showed that a public-private partnership could work. 

Helping out with Vaccination

While still a bit reluctant to get into another public-private partnership, in November, when it became clear from different reports that the vaccination process was at risk of failing because of the lack of funding, mPharma saw another gap to be filled.

“For example, Ghana would need over $200 million to be able to vaccinate about 70% of its population and that’s just for year one. What happens if COVID becomes endemic? What if every year we need booster shots? What happens with all these new variants that are coming up,” he said.

Those were some of the questions that spurred Rockson and his team to get involved in the vaccination process.

Fortunately for mPharma, many business leaders were uncomfortable waiting for the government. The unexpected outbreak of the coronavirus meant that businesses incurred high costs in their race to keep their employees safe and productive. Some industries were more adversely affected than others; for example, factory workers weren’t able to work in large numbers anymore. And oil rig workers were forced to quarantine for two weeks before they could return to their desks. 

A consortium made up of all banks, telecommunication companies, and some FMCG and oil companies in Ghana decided they would fund the vaccination of their employees.

Beyond paying for only their employees, the consortium also agreed to match the number of employees they vaccinated by giving the same number of free doses to the government.

When the first batch of doses arrived in Ghana, mPharma and the consortium agreed to give all the doses to the government for vaccinating health workers. Putting the public interest before theirs.

The bigger picture

Unlike the molecular fund which brought financial returns for mPharma, Rockson said the vaccination program was done as a contribution to society without any financial gains. He expects that mPharma would be able to build some relationships and credibility with companies and communities through this program.

For mPharma, which has a presence in eight sub-Saharan African countries, Rockson hopes that this framework which has proven to be successful in Ghana would be adopted in other countries to increase financing capacity for more vaccination.

“We need to think of how we can mobilise domestic financing in a period where several countries’ budgets are under severe strain because of the pandemic. If the government uses all its funds to buy COVID vaccines, what are they going to use to improve the education sector or to build roads?” 

“We need to remember that ‘free’ is not a strategy,” he added.
While 45 African countries have received vaccines and 43 have started the vaccination process,  less than 2% of Africans have been vaccinated. Compared to over 60% in other major economies, it shows that there’s still more ground to be covered. The framework mPharma has introduced might be the missing link in accelerating vaccination in Africa.