Tanzania, US forge pharma packaging hub targeting SADC market of 300M people

TANZANIA/USA – Tanzania and the United States have agreed to deepen strategic health cooperation, with Dar es Salaam positioning the country as a regional pharmaceutical production and distribution hub serving the wider Southern African Development Community market of more than 300 million people.

The initiative was discussed at a Tanzania-US health partnership stakeholders’ meeting in Washington, D.C., involving the Tanzanian government and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, followed by talks between Health Minister Mohamed Omary Mchengerwa and senior U.S. State Department officials. 

Tanzania has been selected to host and lead the SADC’s Pooled Procurement Services, a regional initiative designed to consolidate demand for medicines and health products among the bloc’s 16 member states. 

Instead of producing solely for Tanzania’s domestic market of about 60 million people, investors could use the country as a manufacturing and distribution base serving the wider SADC market.

Pharmaceutical SEZ and Packaging Alignment Underway

The government is developing a dedicated pharmaceutical special economic zone at Mloganzila, outside Dar es Salaam, where prepared plots are available for investors.

Minister Mchengerwa said the government is working to create a more competitive environment for pharmaceutical manufacturing by aligning tax and tariff arrangements for pharmaceutical raw materials and packaging with systems used by the East African Community and the Southern African Development Community. 

The aim is to make locally manufactured medicines more competitive with finished products imported from abroad. Tanzania’s regulatory system has strengthened, with the Tanzania Medicines and Medical Devices Authority having reached Level 3 of the World Health Organization’s maturity framework.

Taskforce and Universal Health Coverage Drive Investment

The Ministry of Health has established a Pharmaceutical Investment Acceleration Taskforce, bringing together key institutions including TMDA, Medical Stores Department, Tanzania Revenue Authority and Tanzania Investment and Special Economic Zones Authority. 

The government is further developing plans for a national vaccine and biological-products manufacturing plant. 

Health Minister Mchengerwa highlighted Tanzania’s expansion and improvement of health facilities as part of efforts to strengthen access to healthcare, with the Universal Health Insurance Act having established the legal foundation for a nationwide health insurance system aiming to bring more than 60 million people into a unified risk-sharing system. 

The health partnership comes as Tanzania seeks to attract greater foreign investment into pharmaceutical manufacturing while strengthening its role in regional health-product supply chains.

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