Disrupting Health Product Distribution: The Emergence of Digital Innovators in Africa

 

Presenters

Mara Hansen Staples, Partner, Impact for Health

Cynthia Eldridge, Partner, Impact for Health

Host

Amanda Glassman, Chief Operating Officer & Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development

Innovations to improve the distribution of health products are emerging in several key markets in Sub-Saharan Africa, promising (among other things) to decrease the prices and price variability of medications, improve quality, increase availability and extend the geographic reach of products. Impact for Health, with support from the Gates Foundation, recently led a study landscaping innovative companies operating in Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and South Africa, which found 30 companies offering services to improve the supply of products to providers and to consumers directly. Though most companies are operating at small scale, they seek to disrupt current distribution practices through technology and promise improved visibility into the movement of products.

In conversation with CGD's ongoing work on the Future of Global Health Procurement, Mara Hansen Staples and Cynthia Eldridge will discuss the key trends in innovations in product distribution, and the potential relevance for global health programs.