[Update] Vaya Builds Medical Supplies Platform For AU Countries

On Thursday, President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa launched the African Medical Supplies (AMS) platform. AMS is an online platform enabling the procurement, coordination and distribution of COVID-19 medical supplies for all AU member states.

The development of this pool procurement platform was necessitated by exponential growth in COVID-19 cases and deaths on the continent, shortages of key supplies and the need, at the continental level, for the procurement of commodities to prevent Coronavirus transmission and related deaths.
 
The AU leadership has identified an urgent need to procure critical medical equipment and bridge the supply gap to help fight the pandemic for the next six months at least.

Africa Medical Supplies Platform serves as a unique interface which allows African governments and NGOs to easily identify available suppliers in Africa and outside the continent.

The platform makes it possible for governments and NGOS to place their orders optimally for diagnostic test kits, clinical management and PPE equipment. 

[Update] The platform serves as a unique interface enabling volume aggregation, quota management, payment facilitation as well as logistics & transportation to ensure equitable & efficient access to critical supplies for African governments. The Afreximbank will facilitate payments while logistics partners including African national carriers, global freight forwarders will expedite delivery.

The online platform was developed under the leadership of African Union Special Envoy, Strive Masiyiwa at the behest of the AU Bureau of the Assembly. The tech platform was developed by the African private sector and made in Africa by Vaya Technologies Limited and Janngo as lead partners. 

Strive Masiyiwa said other countries have requested to put a similar system in place;

The Africa Medical Supply Platform is just one innovation that African countries have developed to help mitigate the devastating impact of this pandemic threatening both the health of our people and our national economies. We are already getting requests from other parts of the world to license the AMSP concept.

Africa is leading the way with this online solution to ensure all of our governments get access to PPE and other urgent medical supplies they need, at fair prices.