Shem Oirere, Africa Correspondent05.15.15
Leading global consultancy firm KPMG declared two years ago that “Africa is not a healthy continent.” The firm contended that on all health indicators, Africa “lags behind the rest of the world and poor countries of South-East and South Asia that were behind Africa when measured on these metrics a few decades ago.”
The report said Africa’s health sector objectives have been derailed by pandemics such as HIV/AIDS, rampant corruption in the sector, poor infrastructure making some regions inaccessible, political instability and conflicts and rapid population growth.
“All these problems, as well as Africa’s sheer size and its position on the globe – most of it is in the tropics where the nastiest germs and parasites flourish – have made Africans unhealthier and worse looked after medically, than the inhabitants of any other continent on earth.”
The analysis would have made a sad reading if Africa’s health sector revolved around the health indicators only.
But behind the grim picture of the continent’s health segment is a rosy image of a region that has potential to positively turn around the growth of the global medical device coatings market. Analysts concur the continent faces monumental challenges in expanding the health sector, but this economic segment also plays a key role in ensuring the projected continental growth of more than 5.5 percent a year is achieved.
Africa may be at the bottom of the list of markets that contributed to the global medical device coatings market total value of $6.63 billion in 2013 and probably has to be lumped together with the Middle East region if the pie of the international market, which is set to grow to $10.93 billion by 2020, has to be significant.
However, a new report by Transparency Market Research (TMR) on medical device coatings said the region’s share of the global market cannot be ignored anymore because of “increasing healthcare awareness and rising disposable income in emerging economies.”
“Demand for medical device coatings is likely to rise in the near future due to the rise in epidemic and chronic diseases in Africa,” the report said.
This is good news for the manufacturers of medical devices, who are assured of a growing market, which in turn could trigger growth in the medical device coatings market.
Medical device coatings are applied to various medical devices used in health institutions such as surgical instruments, in vitro diagnostic devices, artificial implants, electro-medical equipment, dental handling and ophthalmic instruments according to the report. The coatings applied on these medical devices “augment product surface function and improve performance.”
According to another earlier report “medical device coatings help reduce friction between devices and tissues and provide surface coverage, wetting, uniform adhesion, wear-resistance and coating homogeneity.”
Like many developing economies, the report said growth of Africa’s medical device coatings between 2014 and 2020 will be driven mainly by the growth of the region’s economies and increased government expenditure in healthcare.
South Africa and Nigeria are some of the most promising medical device coatings markets in Africa whose main growth is supported by increased healthcare expenditure and rolling out of health care schemes that could increase demand for medical device imports.
Business Monitor International (BMI), for example, said in South Africa, the medical device market will be fuelled by the public private partnerships in the development of the country’s hospitals despite concerns of a possible restraint from the depreciating local currency against the U.S. dollar and sluggish economic growth prospects.
“The long term growth prospects of the South African medical device market will be strongly influenced by the government’s policies in regard to the National Health Insurance scheme, the promotion of public-private partnerships to develop and upgrade hospitals, the serious shortage of healthcare personnel and an urgent need to effectively address the AIDS crisis in the country,” said BMI.
The South Africa medical devices market, which was estimated at $1.2 billion, BMI said, relies 90 percent on imports to meet demand, although the country manufactured up to $200 million worth of medical devices by 2013, according to the analyst.
Nigeria medical device market, on the other hand, has “exhibited encouraging growth after several years of stagnation,” according to BMI.
“The long-term growth prospects of the Nigerian medical device market will be strongly influenced by the government’s policies in regards to investment under the National Strategic Health Development Plan of 2010-2015, the shortage of healthcare personnel and a need to address the poor healthcare indicators of the country.”
The West Africa country’s medical device market relies solely on imports to meet its increasing demand with BMI saying the value of Nigeria’s medical device market stood at $154 million by 2013.
As noted by TMR, an anticipated upsurge of chronic diseases in Africa is likely to increase demand for medical device coatings and so will the increase in disposable income among some of the continent’s one billion people.
The coatings market growth will also be pegged on the determination by African countries, especially those that are Africa Union members to increase to at least 15 percent of their national budgets to health spending under the 2001 Abuja declaration on health.
By 2010 Rwanda, Botswana, Zambia and Togo had already complied with the Abuja declaration, while another 22 countries are said to spend at least 10 percent to 15 percent of their total national budgets on the health sector.
Going forward, performance of Africa’s medical devices coatings is expected to show slow growth, according to the TMR report, because like many developing regions, the continent’s manufacture of medical devices is minimal.
TMR said the value of the global market for medical device coatings stood at $6.63 billion in 2013 “and is projected to reach $10.93 billion in 2020.”
“Demand for medical devices manufacturing is anticipated to rise between 2014 and 2020 led by growth of the medical devices manufacturing industry in countries such as India, China, and South Korea,” the report said.
Key constraints to the growth of the medical device coatings market include the “volatility in prices of raw materials and stringent environmental regulations” especially in Europe.
The report said Africa’s health sector objectives have been derailed by pandemics such as HIV/AIDS, rampant corruption in the sector, poor infrastructure making some regions inaccessible, political instability and conflicts and rapid population growth.
“All these problems, as well as Africa’s sheer size and its position on the globe – most of it is in the tropics where the nastiest germs and parasites flourish – have made Africans unhealthier and worse looked after medically, than the inhabitants of any other continent on earth.”
The analysis would have made a sad reading if Africa’s health sector revolved around the health indicators only.
But behind the grim picture of the continent’s health segment is a rosy image of a region that has potential to positively turn around the growth of the global medical device coatings market. Analysts concur the continent faces monumental challenges in expanding the health sector, but this economic segment also plays a key role in ensuring the projected continental growth of more than 5.5 percent a year is achieved.
Africa may be at the bottom of the list of markets that contributed to the global medical device coatings market total value of $6.63 billion in 2013 and probably has to be lumped together with the Middle East region if the pie of the international market, which is set to grow to $10.93 billion by 2020, has to be significant.
However, a new report by Transparency Market Research (TMR) on medical device coatings said the region’s share of the global market cannot be ignored anymore because of “increasing healthcare awareness and rising disposable income in emerging economies.”
“Demand for medical device coatings is likely to rise in the near future due to the rise in epidemic and chronic diseases in Africa,” the report said.
This is good news for the manufacturers of medical devices, who are assured of a growing market, which in turn could trigger growth in the medical device coatings market.
Medical device coatings are applied to various medical devices used in health institutions such as surgical instruments, in vitro diagnostic devices, artificial implants, electro-medical equipment, dental handling and ophthalmic instruments according to the report. The coatings applied on these medical devices “augment product surface function and improve performance.”
According to another earlier report “medical device coatings help reduce friction between devices and tissues and provide surface coverage, wetting, uniform adhesion, wear-resistance and coating homogeneity.”
Like many developing economies, the report said growth of Africa’s medical device coatings between 2014 and 2020 will be driven mainly by the growth of the region’s economies and increased government expenditure in healthcare.
South Africa and Nigeria are some of the most promising medical device coatings markets in Africa whose main growth is supported by increased healthcare expenditure and rolling out of health care schemes that could increase demand for medical device imports.
Business Monitor International (BMI), for example, said in South Africa, the medical device market will be fuelled by the public private partnerships in the development of the country’s hospitals despite concerns of a possible restraint from the depreciating local currency against the U.S. dollar and sluggish economic growth prospects.
“The long term growth prospects of the South African medical device market will be strongly influenced by the government’s policies in regard to the National Health Insurance scheme, the promotion of public-private partnerships to develop and upgrade hospitals, the serious shortage of healthcare personnel and an urgent need to effectively address the AIDS crisis in the country,” said BMI.
The South Africa medical devices market, which was estimated at $1.2 billion, BMI said, relies 90 percent on imports to meet demand, although the country manufactured up to $200 million worth of medical devices by 2013, according to the analyst.
Nigeria medical device market, on the other hand, has “exhibited encouraging growth after several years of stagnation,” according to BMI.
“The long-term growth prospects of the Nigerian medical device market will be strongly influenced by the government’s policies in regards to investment under the National Strategic Health Development Plan of 2010-2015, the shortage of healthcare personnel and a need to address the poor healthcare indicators of the country.”
The West Africa country’s medical device market relies solely on imports to meet its increasing demand with BMI saying the value of Nigeria’s medical device market stood at $154 million by 2013.
As noted by TMR, an anticipated upsurge of chronic diseases in Africa is likely to increase demand for medical device coatings and so will the increase in disposable income among some of the continent’s one billion people.
The coatings market growth will also be pegged on the determination by African countries, especially those that are Africa Union members to increase to at least 15 percent of their national budgets to health spending under the 2001 Abuja declaration on health.
By 2010 Rwanda, Botswana, Zambia and Togo had already complied with the Abuja declaration, while another 22 countries are said to spend at least 10 percent to 15 percent of their total national budgets on the health sector.
Going forward, performance of Africa’s medical devices coatings is expected to show slow growth, according to the TMR report, because like many developing regions, the continent’s manufacture of medical devices is minimal.
TMR said the value of the global market for medical device coatings stood at $6.63 billion in 2013 “and is projected to reach $10.93 billion in 2020.”
“Demand for medical devices manufacturing is anticipated to rise between 2014 and 2020 led by growth of the medical devices manufacturing industry in countries such as India, China, and South Korea,” the report said.
Key constraints to the growth of the medical device coatings market include the “volatility in prices of raw materials and stringent environmental regulations” especially in Europe.