Addressing production gaps for vaccines in African countries

Patterns of marginalization and exclusion of the vulnerable in medicine
and public health have become the norm. The vulnerable, especially on the
African continent, have been left out of the distribution of life-saving medical
and public health interventions. When included, they have always been last in
line to receive such interventions. This inequity prevents Africa from stopping
the spread of diseases, resulting in preventable deaths. The repercussions of this
inequitable distribution are magnified in countries whose health systems have
been weakened by centuries of colonization and unfair international policies
such as the structural adjustment programs that hollowed out public investment
in health systems.1

A prime example that illustrates the historical marginalization of the vulner-
able is the distribution of antiretroviral therapy (ART). In the 1990s, powerful

administrations such as the U.S. government strongly pushed for ART to be
denied to HIV/ AIDS patients in developing countries as it was considered too
expensive, too complicated, and not cost-effective.2

Instead, leaders around
the world called for prevention as a cheaper means of reducing the spread of
the virus, leaving the 40 million infected in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2002 with
no treatment options at a time when treatment was available.3

This is just one example of the countless manifestations of injustice that have pervaded our society, leaving Africa to contend with diseases that have become an afterthought on other continents.