The Africa Development Bank has pledged that $3bn will be invested over the next 10 years to end vaccine dependency across the continent.
The plan includes a new pharmaceutical centre for research, development and manufacturing based in Rwanda's capital, Kigali.
AfDB says it will also help patent and license African-made medicines, and support governments to navigate the intellectual property rights to global vaccines and medicines.
AfDB says Africa currently imports more than 70% of all its medicines, spending about $14bn every year.