Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Supports Revital Healthcare With $4 million

<p><em>Bill &amp&semi; Melinda Gates Foundation supports<&sol;em><br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> has gathered that Bill &amp&semi; Melinda Gates Foundation has committed nearly &dollar;4 million to enable manufacturers to more than triple the production of auto-disable syringes to ramp up syringe manufacturing to address the looming shortfall in low- and middle-income countries&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;This is contained in a statement made available to OpenLife by African Media Agency&comma; AMA&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to the statement&comma; Revital Healthcare &lpar;EPZ&rpar; Limited&comma; a Kenyan medical supply manufacturer&comma; announced that it received nearly &dollar;4 million from the Bill &amp&semi; <strong>Melinda<&sol;strong> Gates Foundation to expand the production of auto-disable vaccine syringes&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;This funding will enable Revital to increase syringe production volume from approximately 72 million to nearly 265 million annually towards the end of 2022&comma; enough to cover more than half of the routine immunization needs in Africa&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Global demand for auto-disable syringes has surged in 2021 as the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines has progressed around the world&period; Recent estimates project that there will be a significant shortfall in auto-disable syringes in 2022&comma; which would acutely impact both COVID- 19 vaccination and childhood immunization&comma; including the roll-out of new malaria vaccines&comma; in low- and middle-income countries&comma; particularly in Africa&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Expanding manufacturing capacity in Africa for critical supplies like syringes is essential to ensure adequate supply for the continent&comma;” said Roneek Vora&comma; Sales&comma; Marketing &amp&semi; Development Director at <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;punchng&period;com&sol;">Revital Healthcare<&sol;a>&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We are proud to be part of global efforts to help ensure that Africans have access to life-saving vaccination&period; Revital Healthcare’s goal is to become the largest medical disposable manufacturer in Africa by 2030&comma; helping the continent produce more of its own crucial healthcare commodities&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Expanding Revital’s manufacturing capacity will geographically diversify the global supplier base of syringes&comma; mitigate transportation costs&comma; and help stabilize supply in Africa&period; There are far more than 20 auto-disable syringe manufacturers prequalified by the World Health Organization &lpar;WHO&rpar; globally&period; However&comma; Revital Healthcare &lpar;EPZ&rpar;Limited is currently the only WHO prequalified manufacturer for vaccine syringes in Africa that is contracted by UNICEF and WHO for syringe supply&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>For more than two decades&comma; auto-disable syringes have been the mainstay of vaccination campaigns in low- and middle-income countries&comma; as their fixed needle and locking mechanism prevent re-use&comma; minimizing transmission of blood-borne pathogens such as hepatitis B and HIV&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;With the increasing availability of new vaccines against COVID-19&comma; we are on the verge of critical shortages of the syringes needed to safely vaccinate people&comma;” said Orin Levine&comma; director of Global Delivery Programs at the Bill &amp&semi; Melinda Gates Foundation&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We’re proud to be supporting a significant expansion of syringe manufacturing in Africa&comma; for Africa&comma; to assure a stable supply of safe auto-disable syringes for vaccinating people against COVID-19 and a host of other preventable diseases&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Revital estimates that this support will lead to the creation of over 100 direct new jobs and over 5&comma;000 indirect jobs out of which Revital has committed to ensuring that at least 50&percnt; of new hires are women&period; Revital also aims to expand continuously by manufacturing various medical devices&comma; hence&comma; supporting more jobs&comma; boosting the economy and assisting LMIC’s&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;With the support from organizations such as the Bill &amp&semi; Melinda Gates Foundation&comma; Revital is one step closer in ensuring that we fight these deadly diseases that are killing millions of people worldwide&comma; especially in low- and middle-income countries” said Rajni Vora&comma; Chairman&comma; Revital Healthcare&period; Revital&comma;<&sol;p>&NewLine;