Low-income populations in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) continue to suffer inadequate health care, undermined by poor access to medicines. In the context of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 and international commitments to universal health coverage (UHC), international intervention finances large-scale international procurement of medicines and supports health system strengthening. Meanwhile, pharmaceutical manufacturing in SSA is long established, and is currently being promoted by African governments and other actors including the African Union Commission (AUC), the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and the East African Community (EAC), and supported also by external actors including Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). This Brief presents evidence for the actual and potential health and development benefits from creating stronger local and global linkages between these industrial and health agendas, and outlines how this can be done
