The Ugandan government says the plant would save the country $100 million annually on test kits’ importation.
Uganda has commissioned a diagnostic test kits manufacturing plant for HIV and malaria, the first of its kind in East Africa.
The plant, situated in Nakawa Division of the capital Kampala, will support the regional health sectors by producing affordable malaria and HIV diagnostic testing kits in the country, the government said in a statement.
President Yoweri Museveni launched the facility on Tuesday. The plant was developed by the country’s scientists and President Museveni congratulated them ”for really waking up.”
He challenged other scientists to emulate them in coming up with solutions to human problems.
“It is really not good for people who say they are scientists to fail to understand and use this scientific knowledge to solve problems,” he said.
The country’s health minister, Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, praised the work of the scientists behind the project, adding that it would ”save the country $100 million annually on test kits’ importation.”
‘’The facility is equipped with state-of-the-art technology to produce a range of both molecular and rapid diagnostic test (RDT) kits, HIV viral load test kits, HIV early infant diagnosis (EID) test kits, and HIV drug monitoring kits,’’ says Dr. Cedric Akwesigye, the lead developer of the project.
The facility has been constructed in accordance with the World Health Organisation’s standards and has been inspected and supported by the Uganda National Drug Authority (NDA),” Akwesigye added.
