Nigeria Content Online

The African Network
for Drugs and Diagnostics Innovation (ANDI), at its inaugural meeting
in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, announced the joint emergence of Beth Mugo,
minister for public health and sanitation in Kenya, and Naledi Pandor,
minister for science and technology in South Africa, as co-Chairs of
the Board of ANDI.

The innovative
co-Chair governance structure was created in recognition of the
critical need to integrate public health research and policy with
Science and technology in order to develop a holistic approach to
sustainably address Africa’s health challenges through the discovery,
development and delivery of drug, diagnostics, vaccines and other
health products within Africa.

Board members
representing North, South, East, West and Central African regions,
leading health experts, the African Diaspora and key institutional
partners – the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA);
legal hosts for ANDI, the World Health Organization (WHO); and the
African Development Bank (AfDB) discussed the strategic plans for ANDI.
The European Commission has also provided support for the establishment
of ANDI.

Speaking at the opening of the Board meeting, Jennifer Kargbo, the
deputy executive secretary of UNECA, stressed the importance of the
private sector participation in ANDI activities, especially in
translating R&D outputs into useful products and services that
benefit the people. She emphasised that “ANDI’s success should be
measured in terms of numbers of lives saved, jobs created, and firms
created.”