The Medicine Supply Chain in Africa, Part 2: The Next 10 Years

In 10 years, the medicine supply chain in Africa will look very different than it does today. In Part 2 of this podcast, we examine four key trends which are going to re-shape the medicine supply chain in Africa over the next decade - and shout out to a few of the entrepreneurs that are leading the charge. From regulatory changes spearheaded by the African Union to biomedical innovation requiring new pathways to patient, the medicine market is both growing and changing in Africa.

Our lineup includes:

* Mila Nepomnyashchiy, Lead Advisor, Center for Innovation and Impact, USAID

* Sidharth Rupani, Senior Advisor for Supply Chain, The Global Fund

* Yusuf Rasool, Director of Global Market Access at MSD/Merck

* Clinton De Souza, former Director of Public Health for Imperial Logistics (now DP World), Managing Partner at Celsian Consulting

* Dr. Prashant Yadav, one of the world’s leading scholars on healthcare supply chains. Dr Yadav is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development, Affiliate Professor at INSEAD and Lecturer at Harvard Medical School

Listen now wherever you get your podcasts (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, etc.).

In case you missed it, don't forget to check out Part 1 of this episode, where we trace the movement of a pack of medicines from a factory in India to the shelves of a mom-and-pop pharmacy in Zambia.

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Show Notes

Part 2 of The Medicine Supply Chain in Africa covers 3 segments:

1. The Outsized Role of Global Donors

(3m22s) - There’s a world of difference between the private sector medicine markets and the ones supported by billions of dollars of international donor funding. We hear from Mila Nepomnyashchiy of USAID about two different worlds: one for the medicines endorsed by global funding… and one for everything else.

2. Four Trends That Will Dramatically Change The Medicine Supply Chain in the Next 10 Years

(5m45s) - Trend 1: Clinton De Souza, former Director of Public Health for Imperial Logistics (now DP World), on regulatory changes from the African Union that will massively expand the size of the market.

(9m44s) - Trend 2: Yusuf Rasool, Director of Global Market Access at MSD/Merck, on vertically integrated supply chains that will reduce costs and increase access to consumers.

(13m28s) - Trend 3: Dr. Prashant Yadav of the Center for Global Development on omnichannel distribution that will meet patients where they live and work.

(16m46s) - Trend 4: Sidharth Rupani, Senior Advisor for Supply Chain at The Global Fund, on the golden age of biomedical innovation that will challenge our existing ideas of both ‘medicines’ and ‘supply chain’.

3. Social Entrepreneurs Leading the Charge

(20m31s) - Dr. Prashant Yadav highlights a handful of social enterprises that are leading the charge for change.

Learn More

* USAID’s Global Health Supply Chain Program is a US$9.5 billion program with support from PEPFAR. The follow-in contract may be as much as US$17 billion.

* The Global Fund provides extensive support to countries in procuring low-cost, priority medicines. Every year it spends about US$2 billion to procure medicines for HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria.

* The Africa Medical Supplies Platform is a pooled procurement mechanism spearheaded by the African Union

* The African Medicines Agency seeks to create a common regulatory environment for medicines across Africa

* The African Continental Free Trade Agreement could create the largest free trade area in the world

* mPharma provides medicines to pharmacies, but does not require payment until those medicines are sold. This helps pharmacies to stock more medicines by de-risking the need for upfront cash.

* Maisha Meds is providing forecasting, sourcing, and other technology support to small retail pharmacies in rural areas.

* Kasha is bringing health products to women and girls at home, giving them the privacy they need while increasing their agency and choice.

* Xetova supports the government in Kenya to use its health supply chain data to create insights on consumption, distribution, procurement spending, supplier and payment performance.

* Pendulum Systems (formerly Macro-Eyes) is providing AI and machine learning tools to African governments to help them optimize their medicine supply chain.

* How Local Innovation Can Drive the Global Development Agenda - This 2023 piece from Dr. Prashant Yadav highlights the importance of new social entrepreneurs in addressing gaps in the private and public medicine supply chain.

* Innovations in Digitizing Health Supply Chains in Africa - This 2023 market intelligence report from Salient Advisory highlights some of the key areas of the medicine supply chain where startups in Africa are most active.

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