President Yoweri Museveni is set to launch the first-ever diagnostic manufacturing plant in Africa's Great Lakes Region today (Tuesday, November 28).

The diagnostic testing kits manufacturing plant is located in Nakawa Division, on plot 16A-C Marty's Way Ntinda, Kampala, Uganda. 

New Vision has learned that the project is a partnership between the Government of Uganda and Microhaem Scientifics (MHS), a privately owned company in Uganda.

Supported by technology transfer partners, Guangzhou Wondfo Biotech Co, Ltd (China) and Deseret Laboratories Inc (US Based), MHS recently completed the construction and equipment of the first state-of-the-art manufacturing facility to produce high-quality and affordable Malaria and HIV diagnostic testing kits in Uganda.

The manufacturing plant has been constructed according to World Health Organization standards, ISO 13485 and cGMP, and has been inspected and supported by the Uganda National Drug Authority (NDA).

This facility represents a significant stride in advancing Africa's new public health order (call to action) to reduce health products importation from 99% to 40% by 2040 and in particular Uganda’s NDP III commitment to enhance industrialization and import substitution.

According to MHS, the plant is equipped to produce a range of both Molecular and Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) kits, including but not limited to;

1. HIV Viral load test kits

2. HIV Early Infant Diagnosis (EID) test kits

3. HIV Drug Monitoring kits

4. HIV RDT kits

5. HIV Self-Test kits

6. Malaria RDT kits

7. Hepatitis B kits

The development will not only save the health sector over $100m spent annually on test kits importation, but also address the country's import substitution requirements and ensure the country's pandemic preparedness.

It is also expected to create over 1500 direct jobs and over 5,000 indirect jobs including transfer of skills and building competencies in quality assurance, bioprocessing, research and development and innovation.