News & Impact

UNCTAD 14 World Investment Forum, session on Access to Medicines

At the UNCTAD14 World Investment Forum, Nairobi July 2016, Maureen Mackintosh was an invited speaker at a Special Session UNCTAD - UNAIDS - African Union event on “Supporting Access to Medicines and Industrial Development in Africa: Investing in Domestic Pharmaceutical Manufacturing”. She spoke on “Industrial development and access to medicines: Identifying and creating mutual interests”

East Africa Pharmaceutical Summit, Nairobi

The edited project book Making Medicines in Africa was presented by Dr Julius Mugwagwa and discussed at an invited session at the East Africa Pharmaceutical Summit in Nairobi, February 2016.

Book launch, Making Medicines in Africa

The project book was launched at an event in Goodenough College, London, May 2016. Distinguished speakers included Dr Janet Byaruhanga, Health Policy Officer at the African Union Commission, and Professor Luigi Orsenigo of the Institute of Advanced Studies, Pavia Italy.

Globelics conference 2015

The Globelics Conference 2015 was held in Havana, Cuba on the theme, Innovation to Reduce Poverty and Inequalities for Inclusive and Sustainable Development. At a special session to inform the next Globelics Thematic Review (GTR) on Health Systems Strengthening: Lessons from Innovation Studies, Maureen Mackintosh presented “Manufacturing Pharmaceuticals in Africa: Innovation and Health System Strengthening”.

Shaping Economic Transformation in Tanzania

In February 2015, the DFID-ESRC Growth Research Programme (DEGRP) and REPOA convened a high level workshop to explore the challenges and potential solutions for economic transformation in Tanzania. The event brought together nearly 200 participants, comprising local and international economic and research experts; national policy-makers, including members of parliament; civil society; and media representatives, to discuss the role of agriculture, the financial sector and manufacturing in the country. Professor Benno Ndulu, Governor of the Central Bank of Tanzania gave the keynote speech.

Oxford International Health Conference

Professor Mackintosh was an invited keynote speaker at the Oxford International Health Conference 25^th-26^thJune; her presentation entitled “Reframing “access to medicines”: Local industrialisation and access to treatment in African contexts” draws on IPHSP project findings and other research on medicines access with African colleagues.

Globelics Conference 2014

Participation in the first-in-Africa Globelics International Conference, Addis Ababa, October 2014, of project members Prof. Samuel Wangwe and Prof. Maureen Mackintosh. Presenter: Prof. Wangwe. (Link to presentation). The project members formed part of a special session organised and hosted by Innogen/IKD on Innovating for Local Health: Addressing Local Needs in a Globalised Context. Organised by Dr Julius Mugwagwa and chaired by Maureen Mackintosh, the panel explored the scope for sharing local perspectives on local health systems, within the current globalised policy and funding context. http://2014.globelics.org/conference-themes/special-session-c

London Workshop

The project team ran a workshop in London, supported by UNIDO, entitled Making Medicines in Africa 15th-16th December 2014. Attendees included pharmaceutical experts and academics from African countries, India and Brazil and the outcome is a landmark edited book, entitled Making Medicines in Africa: The Political Economy of Industrializing for Local Health Palgrave Macmillan 2016.

Health Systems Global Symposium

Presentation to the Health Systems Global Symposium in Cape Town, October 2014, of project research findings on procurement processes as experienced by local level procurement staff in Tanzania and Kenya. Presenter Ms Joan Kariuki, Research Fellow, African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS).

WHO/Health Action- development of indicators to measure public health impact of increasing local pharmaceutical production

Prof. Mackintosh was an invited participant (November 2014) in a WHO/Health Action International consultation on development of indicators to measure the public health impact of increasing local pharmaceutical production. UNIDO, the UN agency which has worked for several years to support the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plan for Africa, has used our research on the impact of local pharmaceutical production on rural medicines access as one indicator of potential health-industry synergy.