Africa must wean itself off dependence on food and medicine imports, the president of the African Development Bank (AfDB) said, as the institution approved the creation of a pharmaceutical tech foundation and began processing requests for food relief. Africa should not allow itself to be vulnerable in excessively depending on others, whether it is for vaccines or whether it is for food, AfDB president Akinwumi Adesina told Reuters on the sidelines of a meeting of Commonwealth leaders in Kigali. The bank last month approved a $1.5 billion financing facility for emergency food production, with the aim of averting a looming food crisis. Meanwhile, the AfDB’s board this week approved the creation of a new Africa Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation. Adesina said the foundation would allow Africa to leverage intellectual property rights, protected technologies and innovations to expand Africa’s pharmaceutical and vaccine manufacturing sectors.

Source: Nigerian Tribune June 24, 2022 01:20 UTC