Nairobi, Kenya | 12 May 2026 – Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and Aspen Pharmacare are in advanced discussions on a long-term demand and supply alignment framework aimed at strengthening sustainable vaccine manufacturing in Africa.
Announced on the margins of the Africa Forward Summit, the engagement reflects a shared commitment to building viable and sustainable markets for African-made vaccines and advancing Africa’s Health Security and Sovereignty Agenda.
Africa continues to rely on imports for the overwhelming majority of its vaccine needs, despite consuming more than one billion vaccine doses annually. The proposed collaboration seeks to address this imbalance by exploring a multi-year framework focused on strengthening local manufacturing capacity and supply security.
The discussions will initially focus on:
- Priority vaccine antigens;
- A progressive scale-up of supply, with the potential to reach tens to hundreds of millions of doses annually over time; and
- Competitive and sustainable pricing approaches aligned with market benchmarks.
The initiative aims to improve long-term demand visibility for manufacturers, enabling greater investment confidence while supporting reliable access to regionally produced vaccines for African countries.
Commenting on the discussions, Dr. Jean Kaseya, Director General of Africa CDC, stated: “These discussions with Aspen represent an important step toward translating Africa’s vaccine manufacturing ambitions into sustainable market realities. Africa CDC is committed not only to supporting local manufacturing, but also to working with partners to strengthen demand visibility, advance sustainable procurement approaches, and create viable market opportunities for African manufacturers. Ultimately, this is about securing reliable access and supply security for the continent through African-led production.”
Stephen Saad, Aspen Group Chief Executive said, “Aspen remains aligned to our previously stated commitment to be an African vaccine manufacturer of choice. We are able to make a meaningful contribution towards decreasing the dependency on global imports by providing vaccine solutions for all Africans. The multi-billion-rand investments in our sterile manufacturing capability in Gqeberha, South Africa, also enables Aspen to manufacture vaccines to scale. Further, we are well positioned to leverage our significant supply chain infrastructure to facilitate the distribution of desperately needed vaccines across the continent, just as we do with medicines to more than 115 countries internationally.”
Africa CDC and Aspen will further explore mechanisms to align procurement, financing, and risk-sharing approaches, including through continental demand aggregation platforms and the African Pooled Procurement Mechanism (APPM).
This engagement forms part of a broader series of ongoing consultations led by Africa CDC with African manufacturers and reaffirms its commitment to working closely with stakeholders across vaccine development and production pipelines, as well as the wider health products sector, to strengthen local manufacturing capacity and advance health security across the continent.
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Headquartered in Durban, South Africa, Aspen is a leading global specialty and branded multinational pharmaceutical company with a presence in both emerging and developed markets.
Aspen improves the health of patients in more than 115 countries and territories through its high quality, affordable medicines. The Group’s key business segments are Manufacturing and Commercial Pharmaceuticals comprising Injectable products, Prescription and Over the Counter medicines.
Aspen employs more than 9 500 people at 66 established business operations in some 48 countries and territories. The Group operates 24 manufacturing facilities across 15 sites and holds international manufacturing approvals from some of the most stringent global regulatory agencies. Its manufacturing capabilities are scalable to demand and cover a wide variety of product-types including steriles, oral solid dose, liquids, semi-solids, biologicals and active pharmaceutical ingredients. For more information visit www.aspenpharma.com
Shauneen Beukes, Aspen Group Communications Consultant Cell: +27 82 389 8900 | sbeukes@aspenpharma.com
About Africa CDC
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) is the public health agency of the African Union. As an autonomous institution, Africa CDC supports AU Member States to strengthen health systems, improve disease surveillance, and enhance emergency preparedness and response. For more information, visit: http://www.africacdc.org and follow Africa CDC on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, and YouTube.
Media contact:
Margaret Edwin, Director of Communication and Public Information | edwinm@africacdc.org
