• The Gates Foundation has awarded a $5 million grant to Axmed.
• The healthtech works on transforming how lifesaving medicines are procured across growth markets.
• The grant is expected to unlock up to $10 million in procurement across a number of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

If the COVID-19 pandemic taught us anything, it illustrated just how low down the value chain Africa was in gaining access to lifesaving vaccines compared to other parts of the globe. While we are looking to move past those events, many of the same issues persist, which is why the work of healthtech companies like Axmed is so important.

The healthtech recently received a $5 million grant from The Gates Foundation, which will be used in efforts to transform how lifesaving medicines are procured across growth markets.

“The grant will be deployed as a matching fund, providing a 1:1 match on government procurement of maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) commodities through the Axmed Medicines Platform,” Axmed confirmed in a release shared with Hypertext.

“The grant is expected to unlock up to $10 million in MNCH procurement across a selection of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa,” it added.

The healthtech also noted that it aims to strengthen national procurement capacity by offering Ministries of Health near-term liquidity, access to quality-assured MNCH commodities, and the benefits of a pooled procurement system and aggregated demand, which is expected to drive both cost-efficiency and supply security.

“Reducing the number of preventable deaths of mothers and babies is key to our work in sub-Saharan Africa. This partnership with Axmed and local health leaders is an important step forward in ensuring that life-saving innovations reach the communities where they can make the greatest difference – so that more families can experience healthy pregnancies, safe births, and strong starts to life,” emphasised Cynthia Mwase, director of Health for Africa at the Gates Foundation.

As for what a potential $10 million will open up for Axmed, in 2024, ministries and other procurers using its platform achieved average savings of 20 to 30 percent, with select MNCH products achieving up to 80 percent in cost reductions.

“This fund is a clear example of how catalytic financing and technology can work together to deliver immediate and lasting impact. Our goal is not just to deliver quality medicines faster and more affordably, but to help build more resilient and efficient procurement systems for the future,” added Emmanuel Akpakwu (pictured centre in the header image), founder and CEO of Axmed.

We wish the healthtech all the best in its efforts following the recent grant being awarded and hope to see what it is able to accomplish with it.