New report explores demand for, production capacity of, MH supplies in sub-Saharan Africa

A new report assesses the demand for—and manufacturing capacity of—five essential maternal health (MH) commodities across eight SSA countries. Produced by US Pharmacopeia (USP) and the Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition (RHSC), the report highlights a lack of diversified regional suppliers, overreliance on foreign imports, and varying capacity and distribution of regional manufacturers as challenges that affect availability, access, and affordability of essential MH medicines.

The products in the study are heat-stable carbetocin (HSC), magnesium sulfate, misoprostol, oxytocin, and tranexamic acid (TXA). The study analyzes supply and demand across Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.

Manufacturing Landscape Assessment for Maternal Health Supplies in Sub-Saharan Africa is released under the auspices of RHSC’s Compass Initiative, designed to navigate through a post-pandemic landscape for reproductive health supply access. Compass’ focus areas include greater local ownership of manufacturing and supply chains; managing the competition for scarce resources; and learning from success. A related blog offers a quick and efficient introduction to the report’s contents.