Assessing Nigeria’s Emerging Capacity for Local Manufacturing of Malaria Commodities

Abstract

Background: Nigeria’s continued dependence on imported malaria commodities like Artemisinin-based Combination Therapies (ACTs), Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), Long-Lasting Insecticidal Nets (LLINs), and Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) restricts the growth of local pharmaceutical manufacturing. Recent initiatives like Presidential Initiative for Unlocking the Healthcare Value Chain (PVAC) and National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP), have prioritized expanding this, but evidence on Nigeria’s manufacturing potential remains scattered across multiple assessments, necessitating a consolidated cross-commodity analysis. Methods: This study presents a secondary analysis synthesising evidence from a consultant-led manufacturing readiness assessment and nationally validated technical briefs developed under the Presidential Initiative for Unlocking the Healthcare Value Chain (PVAC) and the National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP). The underlying assessments were based on facility audits, production-capacity evaluations, regulatory compliance reviews, semi-structured interviews, and procurement and financing analyses conducted across ACT, API, LLIN, and RDT manufacturers. Quantitative indicators—including installed capacity, utilisation rates, WHO prequalification progression status, and financing conditions were analysed descriptively and triangulated across commodities using a unified analytical framework. Findings: The synthesis documents 16 domestic ACT manufacturers with a combined installed capacity exceeding 60 million doses per month, as well as emerging RDT manufacturers with projected annual capacity exceeding 470 million tests by 2026. In the LLIN value chain, local textile and petrochemical firms demonstrate partial upstream capabilities aligned with Nigeria’s LLIN Manufacturing Roadmap (2025–2028). Despite this capacity, utilisation remains low across commodities, averaging 25–50%, reflecting fragmented procurement systems, donor preferences for imported WHO-prequalified products, limited domestic PQ-enabling laboratory infrastructure, dependence on imported APIs and other critical inputs, and constrained access to affordable long-term financing. Although NAFDAC has attained WHO Global Benchmarking Tool Maturity Level 3, manufacturers continue to face regulatory bottlenecks, particularly along WHO PQ pathways. Conclusion: Nigeria’s health-commodity manufacturing ecosystem is well advanced and has the potential to meet domestic needs; however, realizing this potential will require coordinated policy reforms, including multi-year procurement guarantees, blended-financing mechanisms, expanded regulatory and laboratory infrastructure, and strengthened governance coherence. If effectively implemented, these reforms could also support regional supply integration under ECOWAS and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), with implications for health security beyond Nigeria.