Africa Day: Celebrating Progress and Planning for a Healthier Future

More than 55 years ago, leaders across Africa came together to recognize the achievements of the African people and to underscore the power of unity. Today, we honor this spirit of collaboration by celebrating Africa Day. 

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is more important than ever for all Africans to come together to help lift up our nations from the heavy burden of disease and premature death. The pandemic has complicated and challenged the progress many countries have made toward Universal Health Coverage (UHC), but it has also reinforced an important lesson about the critical need for strong health systems and essential health services. We can - and we must - learn from our experiences during the pandemic to accelerate long-term investments in health and spark collaboration between governments, private sector, and all those in the healthcare ecosystem.

Two months ago, Roche released the FutureProofing Healthcare Africa Sustainability Index, identifying key areas where improvements could be made to better enable UHC. Three of the priority areas identified in the index are access, quality, and innovation. It is not surprising that holistic policies that prioritize these areas are needed to meaningfully impact UHC goals, but we can address these measures in new and creative ways that are grounded in collaboration. 

Over Roche’s 70+ years in Africa, we have worked to co-create solutions that are tailored to African countries’ specific needs and worked with a variety of stakeholders to correct inequities in access to innovative care. A recent partnership with the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Roche’s long-standing Global Access Program are two excellent examples of how the power of collaboration can be harnessed to improve access to quality care:

• In 2021, the DRC government partnered with Roche to establish a sustainable cancer care ecosystem, including seven new oncology labs, to diagnose and treat up to 1,000 cancer patients in 2021, at no cost to the patient. 
• Since 2014, the Global Access Program has worked to improve access to HIV viral load testing and in 2019, extended the program to include affordable access to diagnostics for Tuberculosis, Hepatitis B and C, and Human Papillomavirus, in the countries that need it the most. 

For innovation - the area the Sustainability Index identifies as the biggest area for improvement in Africa - examples of good practices exist at the local level, but when considered at scale, broad inequities persist that are increasing the gap in access to innovation for African people. 

One of these gaps is in inclusive clinical trials, which are a key to unlocking innovation and accelerating personalized healthcare in Africa. While it is estimated that the population of Africa may reach more than a quarter of the world’s total population in the coming years, only 2.4% of clinical trials in the world are conducted in Africa and only 2% of global genetic data is from Africans. Roche has been working with partners across the continent to conduct and expand clinical trials for over 25 years, and we have run a clinical trial in every disease area where we specialize, including many in oncology. 

While we have had a focus on conducting clinical trials in two hubs in North and South Africa, extending our clinical trial footprint on the continent remains a priority. In fact, during the last 5 years, we have increased the number of trial sites from 60 to almost 140, and allocated 45 new studies to African countries with more than 450 patients included. By 2030, our ambition is to increase by at least 3 to 5 times the rate of evidence generated in Africa to accelerate access to innovation and inform decision-making for better patient outcomes. 

To further our commitment to innovation and to address a lack of trained diagnostic workers and laboratory capacity, Roche opened a Scientific Campus in Johannesburg in 2012. The training center aims to alleviate capacity challenges by providing training courses for lab technologists and engineers; general lab management training for managers and policymakers; and education on health and scientific topics for health professionals and scientists. In early 2020, Roche began developing a new Diagnostics site in Cape Town, which will increase our research, development and biotech production capabilities on the continent.

As we reflect on the past, present and future this Africa Day, we must all reaffirm our commitment to co-creating solutions that address gaps in access and quality and inspire innovation for health care. For Roche, this commitment means continuing our 70+ years of work with stakeholders across the healthcare ecosystem to expand access to quality healthcare so that we can get closer to our goal of a healthier future for all Africans. 

We are already making progress in these areas, but we can do even more when we stand united.