The Founder, The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), Tony Elumelu, has said that his foundation has funded 700 healthcare entrepreneurs in Africa, with a gender distribution ratio of 49% male to 51% female.
Elumelu stated this in his remarks during the Abu Dhabi Health Forum held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
He said that the beneficiary entrepreneurs have gone on to help communities and even their countries in advancing health care delivery in Africa.
Elumelu further stated that Big pharmaceutical companies have a role to play to ensure a sustainable health future for all
“There is a need to review the current patent system and effect reforms while still incentivizing innovation.”
“There also needs to be incentives for big pharma to partner on R&D for diseases from lower income countries.
“Incentives for investing in R&D and manufacturing facilities for big pharma in developing countries are also important — so leveraging the global trade system is also an important element of global health equality.
“We need to work innovatively across social sectors to achieve results.
A high percent of health care facilities in Africa do not have reliable power supply (I think it’s around 40%) — without power, the health outcomes will be low.”