Webinar recording: case study of BioNTech Africa

What is needed to ensure that regional production of health products leads to health equity and countries’ sovereignty and self-reliance? To inform the international discussions on strengthening regional production and provide policy recommendations on this matter, Wemos and partners conducted a case study of the BioNTech mRNA facility in Rwanda.

On 12 June 2024, we organized a webinar to present the findings of our case study. Public health experts from both the Global South and North responded to the findings.

Speakers were:

• Mr Antonio Perrelli, global health advocate and researcher at Wemos
• Professor Petro Terblanche, managing director of Afrigen Biologics, host of the WHO mRNA hub in South Africa
• Mr Tom Mulisa, executive director of the Great Lakes Initiative for Human Rights and Development (GLIHD), Rwanda
• Dr Aflodis Kagaba, executive director of the Health Development Initiative (HDI), Rwanda
• Ms Sharonann Lynch, co-director of the Center for Global Health Policy & Politics at the O’Neill Institute
• Professor William Ampofo, executive director of the African Vaccine Manufacturing Initiative (AVMI)

The webinar was moderated by Ms Maria Birungi Kakinda, research officer at Afya na Haki.