The long-awaited trading within the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) finally began on 1 January 2021, marking a very important milestone for African trade. The AfCFTA creates a single continental market for goods and services, with the aim of increasing intra-African trade by reducing tariffs by approximately 90 percent and harmonizing trading rules at a continental level. The AfCFTA has the potential to increase intra-African trade by 52.3% by 2022. The COVID-19 pandemic has inevitably delayed the implementation of the AfCFTA, in a time when harmonisation couldn’t be more important as the world clubs together to fight the novel Corona virus. Despite various regulations put in place by African governments to try and manage the spread of the disease, the pandemic continues spread across the continent. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) cases in the African region (which excludes Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Djibouti and Somalia) have been significantly increasing since the middle of September 2020. According to WHO, one of the biggest challenges in Africa is the lack of essential products such as medical supplies, pharmaceuticals, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and test kits. As a result of this, most African countries heavily depend on imports from overseas for these essential products. The Covid‑19 pandemic thus demonstrates the heavy import dependency and vulnerability of Africa’s pharmaceutical sector, perhaps more so than for any other industry. According to the UNECA, all African countries are net importers of medical and pharmaceutical products as Africa imports 94% of its pharmaceuticals in…
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