"Innovative partners like Axmed are driving groundbreaking solutions that align seamlessly with the Ministry of Health's agenda. Axmed's business-to-business (B2B) marketplace for medicines exemplifies how technology can revolutionize procurement," she said adding, "By automating and streamlining supply chains, this platform ensures affordability, efficiency, and transparency."
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Barasa said such innovations bolster the Kenya Kwanza administration's efforts to build a health system that prioritizes accessible and affordable care for all Kenyans.
"This initiative complements our government's focus on supporting local manufacturing to reduce dependency on foreign suppliers and bolster national health security. The Social Health Initiative's reforms anchored on pooled procurement, digital innovations, and local production will shield Kenyans from catastrophic health expenditures, ensuring that no citizen is forced to choose between essential treatment and basic necessities," said Barasa.
Her sentiments were echoed by Axmed's CEO Emmanuel Akpakwu who said WHO estimates that 80 per cent of the global population growth in the next decade will occur in lower and middle-income countries that are already carrying the heaviest disease burden.
"These regions face extraordinary challenges but also present immense opportunities for healthcare transformation, our platform tackles these inequities by consolidating fragmented systems, empowering buyers with efficiency, high quality, and affordability while enabling suppliers to scale sustainably in untapped markets," said Mr Akpakwu.
He said the platform is open to all qualified procurers and aggregates demand across healthcare providers, hospitals, and governments, creating unmatched purchasing power for buyers.
For suppliers, Akpakwu said the platform streamlines the procurement process and enhances transparency and reliability, ensuring medicines reach the communities that need them most.
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With funding from the Gates Foundation and venture backer Founderful, Axmed is driving systemic change to improve access to essential medicines for underserved populations.
"While the Axmed Medicines Platform provides the infrastructure for scalable impact, the Axmed Access Summit is designed to inspire action and forge partnerships. Bringing together thought leaders from healthcare, technology, and policy, the summit aims to build actionable solutions to close access gaps," he said.
He said the summit encourages dialogue across the healthcare value chain, enabling participants to share insights, build alliances, and co-create solutions that deliver medicines sustainably and at scale.
"Our success isn't just about lowering costs; it's about improving lives and strengthening healthcare systems, the platform and summit represent pivotal steps toward healthcare equity and we are committed to scaling this vision alongside partners who share our mission," he said.