Tanzania local products

Data are not easy to assemble, but Table 1.1 provides a summary overview of the pharmaceutical industry in Tanzania just before the start-up of Zenufa. Seven firms were then active. Shelys at that time was responsible for about half of local production by value (Table 1.1). Much of the rest of the output was supplied by TPI, Interchem and Keko. The main suppliers to the public wholesaler (MSD) were Shelys, TPl and Keko, while Shelys was also the main exporter. Chapter 3 analyses the Tanzanian industry after this date. 

By 2009, Tanzania-based production was supplying an estimated 35% of a local medicines market worth about US 140 million, and rising medicines exports had reached almost US 8 million. A particular strength of the local firms was supply to the rural areas rural availability relied quite heavily on local manufacturers, and interviews with rural medicines buyers in 2006-07 had found evidence of brand recognition and trust for locally produced medicines, especially those from Shelys (Chaudhuri et al., 2010 Mujinja et al., 2014). In 2009, Tanzanian pharmaceutical production looked like a relative success story. 

Chaudhuri, S. (2008) Indian Generic Companies, Affordability of Drugs and Local Production in Africa with Special Reference to Tanzania, Milton Keynes The Open University Research Centre on Innovation, Knowledge and Development, IKD Working Paper No. 37. 

Losse, K., Schneider, E. Spennemann, C. (2007) The Viability of Local Production in Tanzania, Deutsche GeseUschaft fUr Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), Eschborn, Germany. 

MoHSW (Ministry of Health and Social Welfare) (2006) Strategies for Promotion of Local Production of Pharmaceuticals in Tanzania 2006-2016, Dar es Salaam. 

Mu]in]a, P.G.M., Mackintosh, M., Justin-Temu, M. Wuyts, M. (2014) Local production of pharmaceuticals in Africa and access to essential medicines "Urban bias" in access to imported medicines in Tanzania and its policy implications, Globalization and Health, 10 (12), 1-12. 

Tamarind or Tamarindus indica L. of the Fabaceae, subfamily Caesalpinioideae, is an important food in the tropics. It is a multipurpose tree of which almost every part finds at least some use 17), either nutritional or medicinal. Tamarind is indigenous to tropical Africa but it has been introduced and naturahzed worldwide in over 50 coimtries. The major production areas ate in the Asian coimtries India and Thailand, but also in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia. In America, Mexico and Costa Rica are the biggest producers. Africa on the whole does not produce tamarind on a cotmnercial scale, though it is widely used by the local people. Minor producing countries in Africa ate Senegal, Gambia, Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia (5, 17). 

The Tanzania Food and Drug Authority (TFDA) presses for GMP adherence. Tanzanian firms either have attained locally acceptable GMP standards or are working towards them with TFDA support. Manufacturers agreed that TFDA required standards rise over time, just as do the standards achieved by international competitors and the expectations of international buyers. None, when interviewed, had WHO prequalification of individual products to allow them to tender for donor-funded contracts. 

There are also wholesalers who have retail chains, and supply other retailers, and in both countries they buy locally as well as from importers. One such pharmaceutical wholesaler in Tanzania explained that there was demand for both Tanzanian and Kenyan medicines however, there were constant shortages of Tanzanian items, whereas Kenyan products are always available in the market. Kenyan suppliers such as Elys have representatives in Tanzania, and their products are widely distributed there. 

An important difference between the two countries is in the scale of the local pharmaceutical industry and the range of products the firms have the capability to supply (Chapters 2 and 3). While Tanzania had just five operating firms when the 2013 research was done, Kenya had about 40 producers, including firms capable of supplying parenterals manufactured in sterile conditions. The density in itself meant that Kenyan firms were more able than Tanzanian firms to supply their local market. However, they still currently (2013) supply only around 25% of the domestic demand (Chapter 2). There is clearly room for expansion of local supply in both countries. 

---