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THE Southern African Development Community (Sadc) has extended support to the regional private sector to enhance its participation in the medical value chains.
Through support towards the Industrialisation and Productive Sectors (SIPS), a joint action aimed at assisting the region’s industrialisation and integration agenda, a total of 14 companies are being financed to improve production of personal protective clothing (PPEs).
Zimbabwe is among the countries that have managed to boost domestic PPEs production and now aims at exporting these to neighbouring countries so as to boost regional supplies and augment forex earnings.
“Under SIPS joint action, 14 companies in the Sadc Region have received support to strengthen the development of regional value chains in the Covid-19 related medical and pharmaceutical products (CMPP),” said Sadc in a latest statement.
“The €18 million Joint Action SIPS is co-funded by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
“Among the 14 companies from the Sadc region, which are being supported by the SIPS Joint Action is Malawi-based company, Intelligent Monitoring Systems (iMoSyS).”
The Malawian company received a €100 000 grant to expand its production capacity of high quality, affordable face shields for health care workers in public and private facilities, and other workers in small and medium enterprises in critical sectors of the economy.
The company is expected to initially serve the domestic market and then work towards serving the markets of other Sadc member States.
Reacting to the extreme shortages of personal protective equipment at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, Sadc noted how IMoSyS adjusted its operations and ventured into the manufacturing of medical face shields, with the technical support from the University of Cambridge (UK) and the Malawi Polytechnic University as well as end-user input from health workers in major Malawi hospitals.
Local production of face shields goes a long way in building skills, capacity, and jobs, which contribute significantly towards achieving United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs) number 8 and 9, which target “decent work and economic growth” and “Industry, innovation, and infrastructure”.
The grant also supports the Sadc Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap that prioritises innovation and advanced technologies to achieve competitiveness and productivity growth.
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