Africa Finally Has Its Own Drug-Regulation Agency (nature.com)
(Monday November 10, 2025 @05:20PM (msmash)
from the moving-forward dept.)
- Reference: 0180028026
- News link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/11/10/1755247/africa-finally-has-its-own-drug-regulation-agency
- Source link: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03637-w
After more than a decade of planning, the [1]launch of the African Medicines Agency (AMA) is being celebrated in Mombasa, Kenya, this week at the Seventh Biennial Scientific Conference on Medical Products Regulation in Africa. From a report:
> The agency's establishment marks a pivotal moment in Africa's public health, at a time when the need for biomedical research conducted in Africa, focused on African health problems, has never been greater. Africa holds higher levels of human genetic diversity than anywhere else on Earth, but this diversity has not been adequately studied. And many globally approved treatments and vaccines for diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis are less effective, and can even be harmful in some people of African ancestry.
>
> This year, cuts of billions of US dollars in international funding for biomedical research and health services in Africa have left millions of people without access to life-saving treatments or, in the case of researchers and health-care workers, unemployed. This demonstrates the immense vulnerability that comes with relying on funding from external donors.
>
> What's more, Africa's phenomenal population growth and pace of urbanization is bringing fresh challenges -- as well as opportunities -- around health and disease. In Africa's cities today, the inhabitants of increasingly affluent neighbourhoods are demanding high-quality medicines and health care. But in low-income areas, high population density, inadequate housing and poor sanitation are facilitating the spread of respiratory and diarrhoeal infections. And everywhere, inadequate diets, air pollution, smoking and physical inactivity are driving increased rates of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer. By 2100, Africa is expected to host 13 of the world's 20 largest cities, and such inequalities are likely to worsen.
[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03637-w
> The agency's establishment marks a pivotal moment in Africa's public health, at a time when the need for biomedical research conducted in Africa, focused on African health problems, has never been greater. Africa holds higher levels of human genetic diversity than anywhere else on Earth, but this diversity has not been adequately studied. And many globally approved treatments and vaccines for diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis are less effective, and can even be harmful in some people of African ancestry.
>
> This year, cuts of billions of US dollars in international funding for biomedical research and health services in Africa have left millions of people without access to life-saving treatments or, in the case of researchers and health-care workers, unemployed. This demonstrates the immense vulnerability that comes with relying on funding from external donors.
>
> What's more, Africa's phenomenal population growth and pace of urbanization is bringing fresh challenges -- as well as opportunities -- around health and disease. In Africa's cities today, the inhabitants of increasingly affluent neighbourhoods are demanding high-quality medicines and health care. But in low-income areas, high population density, inadequate housing and poor sanitation are facilitating the spread of respiratory and diarrhoeal infections. And everywhere, inadequate diets, air pollution, smoking and physical inactivity are driving increased rates of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer. By 2100, Africa is expected to host 13 of the world's 20 largest cities, and such inequalities are likely to worsen.
[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03637-w
Africa is not a monolith (Score:2)
by reanjr ( 588767 )
The headline and blurb makes it sound like Africa is this big unified place with one continental government authority. This agency is formed by the African Union. While the AU does have many of the African states as members, there are several important outliers for whom this likely does nothing.
Re: (Score:2)
> Shocking how that finally got prioritized for the nation. And quick.
"Africa" is a continent, not a nation, and the very first sentence of the summary says this is "after more than a decade of planning."
Re: (Score:2)
I came here to post this, thank you good person.