BACK TO THE ROOTS? A Brief on Tracing the Evolution of Pharmaceutical Manufacturing in Africa

African Traditional Medicine (ATM) is one of the oldest forms of health care systems that has stood the test of time. The advent of COVID-19 and other epidemics such as Ebola and Marburg call for urgency for Africa to meet its increasing need and demand for pharmaceutical products and tackle persistent lack of access to essential medicines. The aim of this briefing paper is to highlight the different stages that pharmaceutical manufacturing in Africa has gone through. The brief uses the literature review methodology to highlight the various changes from the pre-colonial period, colonial period and post-colonial or post-independence era. This brief indicates that in pre-colonial African society health problems were taken care of in the household using African Traditional Medicine (ATM). However, the coming of Europeans marked a turning point of this age-long tradition and culture. The introduction of Western medicine and culture undermined and stigmatized the traditional health care system in Africa. Colonial states used both civil and criminal laws to challenge and marginalize most forms of African therapeutics. However, no matter how dominant colonial medical systems became in sub-Saharan Africa, they never entirely usurped traditional forms of healing practices already present. Therefore, medical pluralism became the norm even when colonial services received the lion’s share of resources and protections and set the terms of debate for what constituted acceptable medical practice. In post-independence Africa, concerted efforts were and are being made to recognize traditional medicine as an important aspect of health care delivery system, recognizing the value of African technology, knowledge and culture denied by white rulers during their years in control. In recent decades there has been a resurgence in use of traditional therapeutics coupled with calls for Africa and African states to develop capacities in pharmaceutical manufacturing and integration of traditional medicines to improve access to medicines and health care systems. Ѩ We conclude that Africa needs to transform its traditional and complementary medicines into a frontier for pharmaceutical innovation and production to meet its ever-growing needs for sustainable access to medicines. This will be achieved through targeted investments across the pharmaceutical value chain with emphasis on collaboration across the continent