The initiative launched at the conference, which was held at Al-Manara International Conference Centre in New Cairo, aims to expand African human and financial capabilities to produce vaccines, medical tools, and supplies by 2030.

The initiative also aims to boost the negotiating position of African countries in importing medication and medical supplies that are not produced on the continent.

The recommendations called for the elimination of Hepatitis B (HVB) and C (HVC) by administering HVB vaccination right after birth and learning from the Egyptian experience in fighting HVC.

The conference called for exchanging expertise between North Africa and southern African countries in maternal and child health, with the start in expertise exchange to take place between Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt and Morocco.

The recommendations also include implementing training courses for healthcare providers in cooperation with the World Health Organisation (WHO) over the next two years and publishing a multi-language booklet in 2024, with the most important educational materials taught in this field to be used continentally.

The conference also called for a continental strategy to use Artificial Intelligence in the medical field as well as the launching of a unified database between all African countries to facilitate continental cooperation in medicine on the level of experts and countries.

The recommendations also included an agreement to double efforts to localise medical industries, vaccine manufacturing, and medical supply production in Africa and to boost continental cooperation in the early phases of production and supply.

The conference called for studying over in the next two years the possibility of launching a unified system for managing medical institutions.

It also agreed to boost the cooperation between the different African health authorities as well as to launch joint research and exchange medical tourism and medical reports across the continent.

The recommendations also encouraged research bodies to study a suggestion to register and price medicine in a unified way.

The conference also recommended upgrading medical syllabuses and courses as well as unifying methods for evaluating doctors’ licenses and their mutual recognition between African countries. Egypt and Nigeria will be the first to cooperate in this issue.

Africa ExCon was inaugurated in Cairo by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi on Sunday.

Around 2,000 delegates representing government health entities from Africa and the Middle East participated in the conference, which is organised by the Egyptian Authority for Unified Procurement and is the biggest medical exhibition and conference on the continent.

Over 350 companies operating in more than 102 countries took part in the conference, unveiling the latest medical technologies and outlining the best practices for sustainable healthcare on the continent.

The conference included 350 sessions and 20 workshops featuring more than 800 international speakers and medical experts, with the aim of showcasing the latest technologies in the field of medicine as well as initiatives that support Africa ExCon as a sustainable platform that connects international healthcare partners.

According to Acting Health Minister Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar, Egypt will host the second edition of Africa Health ExCon on 8 June 2023.