Top health and tech stakeholders in the continent have called for the strengthening of
national supply chains. This is by focusing on the role of data and technology in policy and
regulatory frameworks, manufacturing processes and resource mobilization in order to
augment the continent’s post-COVID-19 heath security systems.
The experts, who were drawn from the Ministries of Health of five East African nations,
were speaking in Nairobi during the Africa Healthcare Supply Chain dialogue 2022. The convention saw the continent’s multilateral agencies, tech and financial sectors, manufacturers and donor organizations share insights and at the same time mapping out opportunities for the continent’s healthcare system post-pandemic.
Healthcare is one of the sectors hardest hit by supply chain challenges during the Covid
pandemic. Stakeholders in health service provision including governments and industry
players have been called on to leverage technology to mitigate against risk, build
efficiencies and resilience moving forward.
Health Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) Rashid Raman, had this to say, “Africa continues to lag behind in adoption and use of technology to manage healthcare supply chains. The continent’s healthcare supply chains should be designed in such a way that they are capable of adapting to shifting demands and requirements for routine products and emergency situations such as COVID-19 and other pandemics.”
Xetova CEO Bramuel Mwalo, had this to say, “Strong supply chains help ensure that essential healthcare products and services including medicines, vaccines and resources make it from the warehouse to the populations when and where they need them. Every link of the supply chain counts and critically we need to premise these cycles on strong adoption of data and technology.”
The forum convened by Xetova, Safaricom and the Ministry of Health drew participation
from Government officials in Rwanda, the DRC, Uganda and Tanzania with the aim of
identifying opportunities for collaboration between private sector, public institutions and
key stakeholders to redefine access to health care across the continent.