Africa must boost its own vaccine production to cope with disease, Angola's president said at emergency talks on Wednesday about a cholera outbreak that has killed more than 700 people in Angola alone this year.

President Joao Lourenco, the current chairperson of the African Union, addressed virtual talks with African leaders about a spike in cholera cases in several countries, his office said.

"To ensure a robust and sustainable response to this and future crises, it is critical to locate drug and vaccine production on our continent," Lourenco said, according to the statement posted on social media.

"Exclusive dependence on external imports limits our response capacity and compromises our health sovereignty," he said at the meeting also attended by World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

More than 90% of vaccines used in Africa are imported

Over 90% of vaccines, medicines, diagnostics and other essential health commodities used across the continent are imported, Africa's Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a report in April.

Numerous African countries are grappling with outbreaks of cholera – an acute intestinal infection – with Sudan, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola among the most affected.

Angola had reported more than 24,530 cases this year with 718 deaths until June 2, the statement said.

Over 170 Cholera-related deaths in Sudan in one week

On May 27 Sudan's health ministry reported 172 deaths in one week in the war-hit country.

Africa's dependence on international supplies for health care items had proved disastrous during outbreaks, including of COVID-19, Ebola, Marburg and mpox, the CDC report said.

It put the continent at the mercy of global trade tensions, geopolitical fragmentation and logistical delays, it said.

Public health emergencies had meanwhile surged on the continent – rising from 152 in 2022 to 213 in 2024, according to the CDC.