General.

As part of its Multiannual Indicative Programme (MIP) 2021–2027, the European Union (EU) and its Member States are supporting investments in health sectors to promote local manufacturing and access to essential health technologies.

On May 21, 2021, the President of the European Commission announced the Team Europe Initiative on Manufacturing and Access to Vaccines, Medicines and Health Technologies in Africa (MAV+). This initiative aims to strengthen African pharmaceutical systems and manufacturing capacity to ensure access to essential vaccines, medicines, and health technologies that are safe, effective, high-quality, and affordable for all.

Backed by a €1 billion commitment from the EU (plus additional support from European development finance institutions and Member States), the MAV+ initiative takes a comprehensive approach across key areas: developing the pharmaceutical market, improving public-private coordination, strengthening regulatory systems, fostering technology transfer and R&D, building human resource capacity, and enhancing supply chains and industrial development.

Partnership with the African Union (AU) and its institutions – notably Africa CDC and the Platform for Harmonized African Health Manufacturing (PHAHM) – is a cornerstone of MAV+, ensuring alignment with continental strategies.

Africa’s pharmaceutical market landscape.

Africa’s pharmaceutical market presents both significant growth potential and systemic challenges. The continent’s pharma market is valued at approximately USD 65 billion, yet Africa (with ~17% of the world’s population) accounts for only about 3% of global medicine production. Consequently, an estimated 70–80% of African pharmaceutical needs are met through imports, primarily from the EU, India, and China. This heavy import dependency leaves African countries vulnerable to global supply chain disruptions and price volatility.

The market is also highly fragmented, with disparate national procurement systems and a lack of economies of scale leading to inconsistent pricing and affordability gaps across countries. Many countries have inadequate infrastructure, weak regulatory oversight, and limited financial resources, resulting in frequent stockouts and uneven access to essential medicines. Donor-funded programs by global health initiatives have improved access in the short term but often via vertical, fragmented approaches that do not build sustainable, integrated supply chains.

Intra-African pharmaceutical trade remains limited – over 50% of Africa’s few pharmaceutical exports go to other African countries – reflecting the need for better regional integration. However, new opportunities such as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) offer a path forward through trade harmonization, pooled procurement, tariff reductions, and financing tools to support local production.

In this context, Africa CDC is spearheading the establishment of the African Pooled Procurement Mechanism (APPM), a flagship initiative under the Platform for Harmonized African Health Manufacturing (PHAHM). Still in its setup phase, the APPM aims to consolidate demand across Member States for medical products, reduce fragmentation, increase price transparency, and improve negotiating power with suppliers. By leveraging pooled procurement at continental or regional level, the APPM is expected to enhance access to affordable, quality-assured health products and create a more predictable market for local manufacturers. This initiative aligns closely with the goals of MAV+ and contributes to building a coherent, locally driven African pharmaceutical ecosystem that reduces import dependence and strengthens health system resilience.

Rationale for the action.

Given the fragmentation and vulnerabilities in Africa’s medicine market, there is a clear need for coordinated market intelligence and data-driven planning to inform interventions. Strengthening local production and regional supply requires robust data on demand, supply, and trade flows to guide policy and investments.

Under the MAV+ initiative, the Team Europe Support Structure (TESS) – in collaboration with Africa CDC – is spearheading a coordinated intelligence framework to address these needs. A key component of this strategy is the development of a Demand/Supply/Trade (DST) Toolkit, which will be used to systematically collect and analyze country-level data. The DST Toolkit provides a standardized methodology, endorsed at the continental level, to ensure coherence and comparability across countries.

By capturing indicators on health product demand, local production vs. imports, procurement mechanisms, and supply chain characteristics, the toolkit generates evidence to identify gaps and opportunities. This data will inform strategic decision-making by Africa CDC, national authorities, and partners, and support policy development aligned with African Union objectives—such as promoting local manufacturing, increasing procurement efficiency, and improving intra-African trade.

Crucially, the DST Toolkit will also serve as a foundational resource in support of the African Pooled Procurement Mechanism (APPM), which is currently being established under Africa CDC’s Platform for Harmonized African Health Manufacturing (PHAHM). The APPM aims to aggregate demand across Member States, enhance visibility on procurement needs, and leverage collective purchasing power to secure affordable, quality-assured medical products. Reliable and standardized market intelligence is essential for the effective functioning of the APPM, which will rely on accurate data to design procurement strategies, inform supplier negotiations, and build a transparent, evidence-based system.

In sum, this action is rooted in the rationale that better market intelligence will enable better decision-making and more effective coordination of efforts—both at national and regional levels—to strengthen Africa’s pharmaceutical market and support key mechanisms such as the APPM.

Assignment.

Within this context, the assignment is to deploy the DST Toolkit in Cluster 4: Anglophone East Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Ethiopia) as part of 18 pilot African countries under the TESS MAV+ initiative. This Terms of Reference outlines the engagement of a Regional Consultant for Market Intelligence in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Ethiopia who will collect and analyze pharmaceutical market data and provide actionable insights for both national and continental use

Through this assignment, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Ethiopia will benefit from a detailed assessment of its pharmaceutical sector and will contribute to the wider Team Europe effort to reduce market fragmentation and import dependency in Africa. The mission is expected to produce a comprehensive analytical report on Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Ethiopia’s pharmaceutical market and facilitate knowledge-sharing with stakeholders, thereby informing national strategy and aligning it with regional initiatives under MAV+. Specific objectives and expected results of the assignment are detailed below.