The United States and international partners are investing $80 billion in Africa’s private sector to help end the COVID-19 pandemic and spur sustainable growth.
The commitment that the Group of Seven (G7) nations and international development banks announced in June will support renewable energy and infrastructure development, as well as Africa’s manufacturing, agriculture and technology sectors. The G7 nations are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The United States “will continue to prioritize investments in vaccine manufacturing, COVID-19 response, climate mitigation and adaptation, and gender equity on the African continent,” said David Marchick, chief executive of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).
Recent investments build on the more than $100 billion the United States has invested in sub-Saharan Africa over the past 20 years to strengthen health security and save lives.
Africa’s development leaders are welcoming the international investment as a step toward addressing the $425 billion that the International Monetary Fund says sub-Saharan Africa needs to fight the pandemic and poverty.
“We know that the private sector will play a major role in financing Africa’s future by creating millions of jobs that are essential to ensuring sustained economic growth and poverty reduction,” said Makhtar Diop, managing director of the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group.
The DFC and its partners, the African Union, France and Germany, are already boosting vaccine production and distribution in Africa. On June 30, they announced a $700 million investment in Africa’s largest pharmaceutical company, Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Limited.
The financing will enable the South African firm to produce up to 500 million doses of the U.S. producer Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine by 2022 for distribution through the African Union, the South African government and the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility (COVAX), an international partnership dedicated to the equitable distribution of vaccines. Aspen released its first batch of Johnson & Johnson vaccines July 26.
The U.S. government, along with African and European development partners, is also aiding the Institut Pasteur de Dakar in working toward COVID-19 vaccine production in Dakar, Senegal, and strengthening health security in Africa.
The United States is pleased to announce that an initial 25 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines will be delivered through COVAX to 49 countries in Africa in coordination with the African Union. We will continue to share safe and effective vaccines until we defeat COVID-19. pic.twitter.com/Xg6BS4BFGb
— Department of State (@StateDept) July 21, 2021
Additionally, the U.S. has already delivered over 60 million vaccine doses to African nations. This is part of the commitment made by President Biden that the U.S. will become an arsenal of vaccines for the world.
In September, Biden committed to share 1.1 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses with the world.
“The United States is committed to sustainably boosting Africa’s vaccine manufacturing capacity and vaccine access, while taking bold, immediate action to help African nations fight COVID-19,” U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power said.
A version of this story was previously published August 3.