The cholera vaccine plant planned for Lusaka South now has its corporate form. The Industrial Development Corporation and Jijia (Beijing) International Medical Technology Limited signed a joint venture agreement in Lusaka on Monday 2 November to develop ZAMVAX Limited, the Times of Zambia, Zambia Monitor and News Diggers reported. The IDC will own 60 per cent of the company and the Chinese partner 40.
The IDC's chief executive, Cornwell Muleya, put the total investment at about US$213 million, News Diggers reports, in two phases: US$24.13 million for the first and US$189 million for the second. The Times of Zambia rounds the project to US$200 million. Muleya cited the country's recurring cholera epidemics as the reason for starting with that vaccine.
What phase one does
Phase one is a fill-and-finish facility in the Lusaka South Multi-Facility Economic Zone: imported bulk oral cholera vaccine antigen will be filled, finished, packaged and quality-controlled locally, at a designed capacity of up to 20 million doses a year. Phase two, if it proceeds, would add production of the antigen itself, giving end-to-end manufacture of cholera vaccine in Zambia. The partners have also spoken of possible later expansion into paediatric and animal vaccines, subject to feasibility studies, financing and regulatory approval, Zambia Monitor reports.
The agreement builds on an agreement signed in 2024 and sets out the governance, funding and implementation terms. Muleya said the aim is for Zambia to become self-sufficient in cholera vaccine and eventually to supply a wider range of vaccines to the region, with technology transfer and workforce training built in; he placed the project within the Grow Zambia Agenda. Jijia's general manager, Su Yong Lin, described the partnership as support for Zambia's health sector and for health security across Africa.
ZAMVAX at a glance
- Partners: Industrial Development Corporation (60%) and Jijia (Beijing) International Medical Technology (40%)
- Phase one: oral cholera vaccine fill-and-finish, about US$24.13 million, up to 20 million doses a year, Lusaka South MFEZ
- Phase two: local antigen production, about US$189 million (News Diggers); total about US$213 million
- Next steps: financing, site preparation, technical agreements, workforce development and regulatory approvals; groundbreaking expected in the coming weeks
What is not yet public is how the first US$24 million will be financed and on what terms, or when the first locally filled dose might reach a clinic. The company's next steps, as the partners list them, are to secure financing, prepare the site, conclude technical agreements, train the workforce and obtain regulatory approvals.
Sources: Times of Zambia, “IDC, Chinese firm clinch ZAMVAX deal” (3 Nov 2026); Zambia Monitor, “IDC, Chinese firm sign $24 million deal to establish cholera vaccine manufacturing plant” (3 Nov 2026); News Diggers, “IDC inks $213m deal to manufacture vaccines” (3 Nov 2026).