The government is rolling out strategic measures to expand Ghana’s pharmaceutical manufacturing sector, enhance access to financing, and create an enabling environment for local producers, Vice-President Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang has said.
She noted that government remained committed to supporting the private sector, particularly small and medium-sized pharmaceutical manufacturers, through industrial financing schemes, targeted tax incentives, and technology transfer programmes aimed at strengthening local production capacity.
The Vice-President made these remarks in a speech read on her behalf by Dr. Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, Policy Advisor for Political Affairs at the Office of the Vice-President, during the opening of the three-day African Healthcare Manufacturing Trade Exhibition and Conference (AHMTEC 2025) in Accra on Tuesday.
Prof. Opoku-Agyemang reaffirmed government’s unwavering resolve to transform Ghana’s healthcare manufacturing industry into a globally competitive hub. “We will nurture local innovation and protect it through strategic procurement and pro-African industrial policies,” she stated.
She further emphasized that building Africa’s health manufacturing capacity demands coordinated investments in infrastructure, skills development, and research to enhance competitiveness and quality assurance.
Organised by the Federation of African Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (FAPMA) and Vizuri Health Dynamics, AHMTEC 2025 has attracted over 200 delegates, 46 speakers, and representatives from 111 organisations across 26 countries. The conference brings together leading manufacturers and health industry stakeholders, including Ghanaian pharmaceutical producers, who are key to advancing government’s “Agenda for Jobs” and its vision of establishing a pharmaceutical manufacturing hub in West Africa.
Call for self-reliance
The Vice-President underscored the need for Africa to move beyond its dependence on imported medicines and take ownership of its healthcare manufacturing agenda.
“This is a defining moment for Africa to unite our capacities, harness our collective intelligence, and build a self-reliant system that protects the health and prosperity of our people,” she said.
She described the fact that African manufacturers produce less than 30 percent of the medicines consumed on the continent as “a wake-up call we cannot afford to ignore,” adding that the continent’s over-reliance on external suppliers for health and economic security is unsustainable and unjust.
“It is a moral challenge when the health and hope of our people are contingent on the goodwill of others,” she stressed.
Prof. Opoku-Agyemang reiterated that under President John Dramani Mahama’s leadership, the government is pursuing an ambitious agenda to modernise Ghana’s manufacturing sector, with a strong focus on the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries.
“We are re-engineering Ghana’s manufacturing sector into a globally competitive powerhouse anchored on value addition, industrial innovation and regional trade integration,” she said.
She added that the country’s policy direction aligns with the objectives of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), headquartered in Accra.
“AfCFTA provides a unique opportunity to build integrated regional value chains, reduce dependency on imports and enable African countries to trade what they make and make what they trade,” the Vice-President concluded.
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