Zambia reached a historic milestone by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and China’s JIJIA International Company Limited. This agreement positions Zambia as the first African country to manufacture the cholera vaccine, a major step forward in public health and disease prevention.
The manufacturing initiative is part of the Zambia Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Initiative, with key support from partners such as Shanghai United Cell Biotechnology Company. This breakthrough comes as Zambia continues its role as a Global Cholera Champion, having co-sponsored the Cholera Prevention and Control Resolution, which aims to eliminate cholera by 2030.
President Hakainde Hichilema emphasized the significance of the partnership, stating that it will not only save lives but also boost productivity and serve humanity, particularly in regions most vulnerable to cholera outbreaks. “Cholera remains a severe threat to the Global South, affecting 1.3 billion people worldwide, causing 2.86 million cases and nearly 95,000 deaths annually,” the President noted.
Zambia is among the high-risk countries, having experienced over 20,000 cases and nearly 700 deaths during the 2023-2024 cholera outbreak. The new vaccine manufacturing plant will not only cater to Zambia’s needs but will also serve the broader region and the African continent, providing a critical resource in the fight against the deadly disease.
“We are deeply grateful to President Xi Jinping and the people of China for their partnership in making this vision a reality,” said President Hichilema, praising the collaboration between Zambia and China.
The establishment of this vaccine plant marks a pivotal moment in Zambia’s public health strategy and solidifies its leadership role in the global campaign to eliminate cholera by 2030. This initiative is set to create jobs, stimulate the local economy, and significantly reduce the disease’s impact across Africa.
A first, a landmark etc those are now the signature tune. Get rid of cholera first.
Exactly my thinking Deja Vu. Is the objective to continue living in dirty surroundings and the depending on the vaccine for avoidance of cholera. Why not tackle the root cause of the disease
Looks like we have no plans to completely rid Zambia of cholera!
MOUs? How many of these are still
outstanding?? People need news about plans, dates, location, completion dates, banked money for the project, otherwise it’d talk and talk.
We have a situation now where our politicians need not be treated as honourable, those in the opposition keep riding on things that have gone wrong for political gain but offer no solutions and those in power concentrating on wrongs that created the problems and not concentrating on immediate solutions.
We keep being played left and right. The emotions we invest in these politicians need to be done with logic, objectiveness and rationality
Kikikikiki landmark agreement…..but chorela is caused by filthy and unsanitary living conditions so in short we its ok now to live in filthy and unsanitary conditions since we can manufacture chorela vaccine….if we clean our cities and stop throwing litter anywhere then we don’t need chorela vaccine
Why are there too many MOUs that don’t go anywhere but are just used by politicians for photo shot? It is meaningless to waste paper and ink that end up in dust bins.
The only vaccine for chorela is cleanliness…..lets clean our cities please….people should stop blocking drainages with garbage…the councils should collect garbage and we need alot of private garbage collecting companies….now the government is promoting unsanitary living conditions…now they’ll be feces along Cairo road…feces everywhere in markets since we can get vaccinated against chorela…indeed landmark achievement for UPND
Lets hope the Chinese are not planning to use it as a lab to research covid virus’s
One of those very embarrassing landmarks if I may say so.