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.
