FR. ISMAEL MATAMBURA, S.J.

I am a Jesuits priest and a member of AHETI which is Africa’s Health Economic Transformation Initiative. AHETI is an Initiative that really wants to advocate and produce medicines locally, and medicine which is really meant for the problems we
are facing and for HIV and Aids, Malaria, and Tuberculosis. Having these medicines produced locally, will really enhance their access for people on the ground or in centers that are part of AJAN, and other partners will be able to access these medicines very easily without waiting for a long time for them to come because they are produced locally and distribution can be done very easily.
The second thing I am looking at is the question of Data collection and analysis, which will help us to tell our story ourselves, because when we don’t have that, other people will be telling our story, will be showing out where we are suffering, but with this initiative one only thing I am looking at is that our story about HIV and Aids, about Tuberculosis, about Malaria, that story will be told by ourselves because we will have data, we will have collected them and analyzed them, and we can see how really the disease burden, how it look like for Africa from this work that AHETI is planning to do in this regard.

The third one I am looking at, is that having done collected the data and then analyzed them and then looking at the genome in Africa we will be able to produce precision medicines that really will be targeting our own problem, so we can get medicine manufacturers locally in Africa and targeting the diseases that are really affecting the people in Africa and so we will have a solution which I could say designed to ourselves and of course it could be also helpful for others.
I really call those who are others stakeholders, stakes, individuals, private institutions who really want to make impact to join this initiative. They can bring in maybe financial support, it can be human capital or it can be support in terms of material things that will be helpful really to make more impact for our continent.