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EF: How do you articulate Africa's strategic importance for Roche?
MT: Africa has always held significance for Roche and vice versa. Throughout our over 70 years of operating in the region, the company has made significant contributions to reducing the burden of both communicable and non-communicable diseases through strategic partnerships to improve access to healthcare services and by promoting local innovation.
More recently, Roche has been actively involved in genomics research and development in Africa. Roche is undertaking an effort to catalyse the development of an open, equitable federation of large-scale clinical, genomics, and outcomes biobanks hosted in Africa that are African-led, revolutionizing how data is collected and shared at scale, enabling scientific discovery and improving health.
This effort is not just for our benefit; if we are successful, we will make a huge leap forward for patients everywhere. Among some of the benefits, we will generate actionable insights for public health surveillance R&D and enhance the clinical trials network; reduce inequities and improve access to innovation in Africa through strong, collaborative health ecosystems; accelerate personalised health care in Africa and support local STEM talent and build capacity on the continent. In short, this benefits patients, scientists, physicians, and healthcare systems in Africa and worldwide.
This initiative reflects our commitment to advancing scientific knowledge and fostering sustainable African research capacity.
These strategies to create long-term value and positively impact society are applicable not only in the African region but anywhere in the world where Roche operates. Our approach to problem-solving is to determine whether we are solving them on the patient’s journey, in the system, or with the people in the system.
Even though we are addressing these issues through our portfolio, we need to shift our role from an organization delivering only medicine and diagnostics to an organization working with the system to remove the barriers to access. Patients in the most remote areas in Africa should be able to have access to our medicine if they need it.
EF: What are your priorities in the portfolio for Africa in 2024?
MT: This year, and for the years to come, we are firmly focused on breast cancer in Africa. Today, as many as 5 in 10 women diagnosed with breast cancer in Africa do not survive beyond five years. This is completely unacceptable. Roche has the ambition to radically improve survival rates so that 8 in 10 women in Africa survive the disease.
African women can’t wait, so we are looking at every stage of the breast cancer journey to see where Roche and our partners can immediately make a difference. On average, it takes more than six months for an African woman to get their breast cancer diagnosis after first noticing symptoms. Approximately 60 - 70% of women are diagnosed when their cancer is in a late stage, making their chances of survival much lower. This is not just a medical issue; it is a humanitarian problem.
That’s why it is a key part of our strategy to partner with the health system to help speed up diagnosis through capacity building, infrastructure development, and patient navigation to get patients through the system faster. |We know this change is possible. We have seen progress in Egypt, where simple changes like ensuring early detection and prompt treatment have shifted outcomes dramatically between 2019 and 2021. Our goal is to replicate this success in sub-Saharan African countries.
We know that patients across the continent can struggle with financial barriers. That is why we are partnering with key stakeholders to ensure that patients can access the healthcare they need, when they need it, without copayments or financial catastrophe. For example, in Nigeria, Kenya, and Cote D’Ivoire we have signed partnership agreements with the local Ministries of Health to ensure that breast cancer patients have access to medicines without any cost to the patient.
Closing the gap in breast cancer has a positive effect not only on the patient’s health but also on her surrounding economy and society. From a Minister’s perspective, addressing cancer is expensive, but the cost of not addressing it is even higher. Countless studies show that when cancer occurs, income decreases significantly, and the impact of breast cancer is higher in low- and middle-income earners. Late state diagnosis drives up treatment costs and productivity losses due to increased sickness and mortality.
An example of this is Nigeria. If Nigeria were to address breast cancer the way Namibia does and improve outcomes, it could achieve a $1.6 billion net profit over ten years. Data from various African countries support this revelation. When it comes to breast cancer, we are addressing something much wider than a health issue. African women are affected by breast cancer in the most significant years of their family and economic lives. Ensuring that their diagnosis and treatment are as quick and effective as possible is good for them and their families, the workforce, the economy, and society. Because breast cancer has a massive ripple effect, we need to have a universal mindset to address it. This will help us overcome the challenge of viewing healthcare as a cost rather than an investment in all our futures. We need new financing methods that will trigger different results to do this.
EF: Could you elaborate on the importance of public-private partnerships (PPP) in expediting African universal health coverage (UHC)?
MT: Together, the public and private sectors can deliver the healthcare that African patients deserve. Leveraging the efficiency and efficacy of the private sector and combining it with the strength and reach of African healthcare systems can bring us closer to achieving UHC. These partnerships are key to deepening and broadening care delivery, enhancing quality infrastructure, and fostering trust within our communities.
The private sector can contribute to African healthcare delivery and infrastructure through public-private partnerships, including service provision, infrastructure development, introducing and sharing innovation, training and capacity building, and financing solutions.
Healthcare in Africa needs a transformation. To achieve this, we require long-term and stable partnerships. African governments are pivotal in creating an enabling environment that nurtures PPPs that benefit patients and healthcare systems. Taxes are often a common way to create incentives. However, legislative change can be a more powerful tool for creating a favourable investment environment as it can address broader structural barriers and create a more levelled playing field for all investors.
EF: How is Roche leveraging digital solutions to support healthcare systems?
MT: McKinsey research shows that by expanding their use of digital tools, African health systems could realize up to 15% efficiency gains by 2030 and reinvest the savings to improve access and outcomes. Roche has already started working with its partners to advance smartphone connectivity, data management policies (including boosting interoperability, privacy, and security), and data infrastructure.
Digital solutions are helping us boost health system performance in Africa and play an important role in improving efficiency. A practical example of this is how it is increasing access to essential health services for women in Ghana, where breast cancer is the leading cause of female cancer death. Roche is working with a cancer NGO to integrate a tailored Navigation Mobile application called RedPath. The app streamlines navigation, data management, eases patient referral within the network of health facilities, and provides seamless data analysis to improve breast cancer strategies. Since the inception of the Patient Navigation Programme 6 months ago, of which Red Path is part, over 1,000 patients have been navigated by 20 navigators across 15 public institutions. These learnings will be used to scale the program to other countries throughout the continent in 2024.
EF: In a year of presidential elections across Africa, how will Roche continue its commitment to the region?
MT: Roche has been in Africa for over 70 years, working closely with all our stakeholders, including medical societies, NGOs, global health organizations, patient advocacy groups, and civil societies, while contributing to bold solutions that support strong, resilient health systems.
I'm incredibly proud of our commitment to Africa. Roche supported the WHO in introducing a groundbreaking initiative to improve access to breast and cervical cancer detection, treatment, and care services. From 2023-2026, this innovative program will be piloted in Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, and Zimbabwe, extending cancer care to 30,000 women. Beyond this, it seeks to empower healthcare workers in local communities through comprehensive training and providing essential equipment and supplies at the primary healthcare level.
We know that a one-size-fits-all approach won’t work for each country's unique challenges. That’s why we start with local perspectives to identify areas where we can catalyse exponential change within countries and across the continent. At the core of finding and scaling the right solution is listening to, understanding, and working with patients and stakeholders in Africa to ensure each solution addresses their reality and brings meaningful and lasting change to the African people.
