President William Ruto, on Thursday, November 17, met the African Union Special Envoy for African Medicines Agency, Michel Sidibé, at State House, Nairobi.
The President announced his support for the establishment of the African Medicines Agency, which he underlined was an advancement in the health sector.
Establishing the agency, he added, would ensure access to affordable and effective medicine for Kenyans.
“Kenya supports the establishment of the African Medicines Agency under the auspices of the African Union," he stated.
"We are committed to the local production and supply of affordable, safe and effective medicines in Kenya and Africa," Ruto added.
He further reiterated his commitment to ensuring the safety of medicine used by Kenyans.
The African Medicines Agency (AMA) was established in 2020 in response to the continent's challenges of perpetual diseases.
AMA was tasked with the role of establishing regulatory policies and systems and ensuring that the population in the continent has access to affordable and safe medicine.
The African Union (AU) envisaged an opportunity to leverage the industrialization trend in the continent to realise both opportunities and access to medicine.
Manufacturing of medicine was part of President William Ruto's manifesto in the run-up to the August 2022 General Election.
He stated that his administration would lay down structures to support medicine manufacturing in Kenya and regulate the distribution process.
“We will have a competitive, transparent and stakeholder-driven procurement of health products, as well as local manufacturing of pharmaceutical products, which must inform the creation of job opportunities," Ruto stated in July 2022 during an economic forum in Nairobi.
