The Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) China Office signed a cooperation agreement with the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Medicines and Health Products (CCCMHPIE) in Shanghai, China in June 2016, aiming to further effect the China-Africa health collaboration, especially in terms of local production of pharmaceuticals and health commodities in Africa. 

The agreement was signed by the Dr. Catherine Sozi, Country Director of UNAIDS China Office, and Dr. Xu Ming, Vice President of CCCMHPIE, at a media conference about the 2015 Top 100 Pharmaceutical Enterprises of Internationalization held in Shanghai. 

The two-year agreement contains a wide range of cooperation items, including developing the online pharmaceutical market information platform (www.healthcac.com), convening multiple stakeholders to fulfil the goals set at the 2015 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held in Johannesburg, and supporting the 2016 China-Africa Health Roundtable, as well as linking the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) to regulatory authorities in Africa. 

Africa is home to 14 percent of the global population, and to date accounts for a quarter of the global disease burden. While all governments have signed on for the WHO Universal Health Coverage call and more recently the UNAIDS strategy to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030, access to quality medicines and health commodities remains a significant challenge, even though, Africa is one of the world's fastest-growing economic regions. 

In addition, the value of Africa's Pharma industry has risen significantly, from $4.7 billion in 2003 to $20.8 billion in 2013. These totals include patented and generic prescription drugs and over-the-counter medicines. That's good news for pharma companies seeking new sources of growth, and for patients who have access to medicines previously unavailable on the continent.  

By the end of October 2015, the UNAIDS China Office, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and CCCMHPIE worked collectively and organized a field visit by a Chinese pharmaceutical manufacturer delegation to Ethiopia and Kenya. After the visit, the three organizations cooperated in establishing an online pharmaceutical market information platform. This can open the window for both China and Africa to achieve information exchange and deeper cooperation in the long term. 

"The UNAIDS will collaborate with CCCMHPIE to exchange information and share relevant resources in China-Africa health collaboration," said Sozi. "We are committed to work with CCCMHPIE to build the bridge between China and Africa in the fields of communication, technology transfer, and further cooperation, in the view that China and Africa could thus build stronger capacities in fighting against AIDS, and help 'fast-track' the global AIDS response, and therefore end the epidemic by 2030."