Health experts and policymakers in Africa have been urged to take a leading role in the fight against Tuberculosis (TB), shifting the continent from being a testing ground for vaccines to becoming an equal partner in their development and production.
This call was made in a recent report by the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), following a landmark workshop titled “Financing TB Vaccines R&D: African Priorities, Needs and Stakeholder Perspectives” held in Kigali, Rwanda.
Delegates said that African researchers, manufacturers, regulators, communities, and governments must be engaged from the earliest stages of TB vaccine research and development (R&D).
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), TB claimed 1.25 million lives globally in 2023, including 161,000 people living with HIV.
The IAVI report stressed that African stakeholders should play a central role in prioritising vaccine candidates best suited to the region’s needs, taking into account product profiles, target populations, supply pathways, costs, and integration into national TB programmes.
“The TB vaccine field must engage African partners on an equal footing in end-to-end product development, not only as hosts of clinical trials. Prioritising early engagement of African partners can help foster ownership of the resulting products, facilitate the development of vaccines appropriate for local contexts, and strengthen capacities to lead full-scale product development, including beyond TB,” the report stated.
It further highlighted the need for investments to support African institutions in conducting basic research that deepens understanding of TB immunology while enhancing local expertise in discovery and translational science.
The report underscored the importance of transparency in partnerships, calling for clear terms and expectations when African stakeholders support TB vaccine development.
“Prerequisites for investments in TB vaccine R&D and access from African funders must be met to ensure equitable benefit-sharing of research outputs. This may include affordability guarantees and preferential terms for regional manufacturing, such as fill-and-finish processes, upstream production of active pharmaceutical ingredients, and technology transfer,” the report noted.
Supporting countries, it added, should be guaranteed timely access to licensed vaccines. Enabling policies such as duty waivers for infrastructure investments and clinical development consumables were also recommended.
The report further stressed the importance of strengthening the evidence base and value proposition for local investments. It urged African governments and stakeholders to tailor value propositions to regional and national contexts, factoring in target populations, demand forecasts, willingness-to-pay, and readiness for regional manufacturing.
“Country-level requests should be quantified and aligned with domestic funding capacities, while considering coordinated financing with other regional and global funders. Demonstrating potential cost savings and broader socio-economic benefits will be key to attracting material support from both public and private sector investors,” the report read.
Finally, the report called on African manufacturers to gain a clearer understanding of the future vaccine market. Volume commitments and advance market agreements, it said, could provide meaningful signals that would help funders identify suitable financing models and direct investments more effectively.
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