Nigerian e-health company Field has launched a route-to-market service that will introduce emerging therapies to tackle the urgency of maternal mortality, newborn and child health, along with nutrition, with the help of US$11 million in capital from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Founded in 2015, Field is a pharmaceutical supply chain provider within Nigeria and Kenya that works collaboratively with African governments by delivering and scaling healthcare programmes, catering for Africa’s small private pharmacies, and providing data-led technology that aids inventory management and access to products.
Field’s streamlined infrastructure has facilitated over 800 million health interventions across more than 60 therapeutic areas, such as family planning, HIV and Tuberculosis. Its new initiative will leverage its proprietary technology, distribution, and financing services, which today powers a network of over 40,000 private and public healthcare providers, to create an accelerated route to market for emerging therapies and technologies.
This is to include an extensive digitisation overhaul for private healthcare providers, hospitals and healthcare bodies at State and Federal level, with financing options to strengthen operations and purchasing capabilities.
Additionally, healthcare providers stand to benefit from last-mile delivery to improve day-to-day health services and the installation of pharma-grade refrigerators. In its entirety, the service will be reinforced by the establishment of a coalition to include governments, manufacturers and other key stakeholders for one of the continent’s most ambitious maternal health programmes to-date.
“This is public health powered by technology and today’s news recognises the products and services that Field has built over the past eight years scaled and integrated into large-scale public health programmes; this is what we believe health technology companies should be doing; joining innovative, impactful coalitions between private and public entities,” said Michael Moreland, CEO and founder of Field.
The initiative launches with an initial US$11 million in support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in recognition of Field’s commitment to introduce emerging therapies and supply chain transformation in combating Africa’s most urgent health priorities.
“Digitally powering, networking, and financing health systems at scale will have an overwhelmingly positive effect on access to quality care. With funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation we are set to rapidly improve mother and child survival in every setting,” Moreland said.
In addition to this new initiative, Field continues to grow and scale its technology solutions across the continent. In Field Supply, it has created the largest pharmaceutical supply chain platform in Africa, while its distribution service Shelf Life distributes over 3,000 quality products across more than 50 therapeutic areas, reaching over 2,500 pharmacies and hospitals in 24 cities in Nigeria and Kenya.
