The World Health Organization (WHO) has designated a network of regional training centres for biomanufacturing across all six WHO regions, marking a significant step toward strengthening the global workforce required to produce vaccines, biotherapeutics, and other essential biological products. The announcement was made in Geneva on 29 April 2026 as part of WHO’s broader effort to build sustainable and equitable health manufacturing capacity worldwide.
This initiative aligns with ongoing global investments in manufacturing infrastructure and technology transfer, with WHO emphasizing that skilled human resources and strong systems are equally important for ensuring long-term impact. The programme is part of the WHO Biomanufacturing Workforce Training Initiative launched in 2023, which aims to address critical skills gaps across the biomanufacturing sector and support countries in developing local production capacity.
According to WHO, the initiative reflects a strategic shift toward strengthening equitable access to health products and global health security by investing in workforce development. The new regional training centres will provide structured, context-specific training aligned with regional needs, regulatory systems, and languages, while working in collaboration with academic institutions and industry partners.
The designated centres include leading institutions across all regions, such as Institut Pasteur de Dakar in Senegal and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in South Africa for Africa, Fiocruz in Brazil for the Americas, THSTI in India for South-East Asia, the National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training in Ireland for Europe, Egypt’s Center for Continuing Professional Development for the Eastern Mediterranean, and Peking University in China for the Western Pacific.
These centres will function as part of a coordinated global network and will complement the Global Training Hub for Biomanufacturing established in 2022 in the Republic of Korea. The hub provides standardized training that combines practical and classroom-based learning, along with training-of-trainers programmes to strengthen global capacity.
WHO highlights that the initiative supports World Health Assembly resolution WHA74.6, which focuses on strengthening local production of medicines and health technologies. By developing a skilled workforce, the programme aims to reduce inequities in access to health products and improve countries’ ability to respond effectively to health emergencies.
Overall, the initiative is positioned as a key element of global health security and pandemic preparedness. It emphasizes that building a geographically distributed and highly skilled biomanufacturing workforce is essential for ensuring resilient health systems and sustainable access to life-saving medical products in the future.
