ArticleJournal of pharmaceutical policy and practice2023
Bridging the gap? Local production of medicines on the national essential medicine lists of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
Article in Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- Fortifying essential medicines supply chains in Sub-Saharan Africa - the curious cases of Kenya and Uganda.Global health action · 2026Review
- Article
- Economic assessment of potential changes to essential medicines for diabetes in Uganda.PloS one · 2025Article
- Establishing links between drug registers and essential medicines lists.Bulletin of the World Health Organization · 2025Article
- Investigating pharmaceutical product recalls due to discolouration: a Kenyan case review (January 2016-December 2024).Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice · 2025Article
- Cost and availability of selected medicines after implementation of increased import verification fees.BMC health services research · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundEssential medicines (EMs) are those that satisfy the basic healthcare needs of the population. However, access to EMs remains a global health challenge. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the East African Community (EAC) manufacturing plan 2017-2027 support local production of EMs as a strategy to improve access to medicines. The aim of this study was to determine for each therapeutic class on the national essential medicine lists (NEMLs) of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, the number of EMs produced in each country.
methodsIn 2018, we analysed NEMLs and national drug registers (NDRs) in each country to identify local manufacturers and local products by EM status. For each local manufacturer we determined the number of EM products and individual EMs, and analysed EMs in each therapeutic class by registration status and whether produced locally.
resultsThere were nine companies manufacturing locally in Kenya, four in Tanzania and six in Uganda. Most local medicine products were non-EM products. Of the 946 locally produced products in Kenya, 310 were EM products; of the 97 locally produced products in Tanzania, 39 were EM products; and of the 181 locally produced products in Uganda, 100 were EM products. Many local EM products were duplicate. Only a small proportion of EMs on each NEML were produced locally: 21% (92/430) in Kenya, 5% (24/510) in Tanzania, and 10% (55/526) in Uganda. Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda had no local EM products in 13/32, 17/28 and 15/32 therapeutic classes, respectively. The proportion of EMs that were registered varied across the countries from 327 (76%) in Kenya, 269 (53%) in Tanzania, and 319 (60%) in Uganda.
conclusionsThis study highlights the importance of auditing NDRs and NEMLs for local production to inform regional and national local manufacturing strategies. EMs should be prioritized for local production and drug registration to ensure that production is aligned with local health needs.
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