Keypoints:
- $6bn investment targets health and pharma sectors
- African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation launched
- AfDB also leads efforts in food security and energy access
THE African Development Bank (AfDB) has rolled out a $6bn initiative to transform Africa’s health sector, with a dual focus on modern infrastructure and home-grown pharmaceutical production. The announcement was made by outgoing AfDB President Dr Akinwumi Adesina during the Bank’s 2025 Annual Meetings in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
The landmark investment is split into two $3bn programmes: one to build quality health infrastructure and the other to establish robust pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity across the continent.
As part of the rollout, Adesina also introduced the African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation—a new institution designed to help African nations secure intellectual property rights and technical capacity to produce medicines and vaccines locally.
‘Today, the African Development Bank Group is implementing a $3bn programme for quality health infrastructure and another $3 billion for the development of local pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity in Africa,’ Adesina said.
Food security: 104 million fed in a decade
Dr Adesina also reflected on the AfDB’s ten-year impact on agriculture. Thanks to the Bank’s support, 104 million Africans have achieved food security, while 13 million farmers have gained access to improved agricultural technologies.
At the height of global fears sparked by the war in Ukraine, the AfDB responded with a $1.5bn emergency food production facility under its Feed Africa strategy. The result: 14 million farmers across 30 countries received better seeds and fertilisers, producing 44 million tonnes of food—116% above target—valued at $17.3 billion.
Ethiopia, he noted, has become a success story, expanding its heat-tolerant wheat farms from just 5,000 hectares in 2018 to over 650,000 hectares by 2023, achieving wheat self-sufficiency in just four years.
Dakar summit mobilised $72bn for food
The AfDB’s impact was further magnified at the Feed Africa Summit in Dakar, where more than 30 African heads of state signed Food and Agriculture Delivery Compacts to accelerate domestic food production. That summit, backed by the African Union, secured $72 billion in global financing for food security initiatives.
Next frontier: Powering Africa
Building on that momentum, Adesina spotlighted a new frontier—universal energy access. In January, the AfDB and the World Bank launched Mission 300 at the Africa Energy Summit in Dar es Salaam. The initiative aims to connect 300 million people in Africa to electricity by 2030.
Co-chaired by Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan and supported by 48 African nations, the summit culminated in the Dar es Salaam Declaration on Energy Access—a landmark commitment to coordinated national and regional electrification efforts, with a strong emphasis on renewables and grid expansion.
To date, approximately $55bn has been mobilised to implement these national energy compacts.
From health and agriculture to energy, the AfDB’s multi-sectoral strategy aims to drive long-term, home-grown solutions for Africa’s development—anchored in sovereignty, resilience, and sustainability.
