Axmed, a health-tech social impact company, has introduced the Axmed Medicines Platform, a digital solution designed to improve access to essential medicines. The platform was unveiled at the Axmed Access Summit in Nairobi, which convened global leaders, policymakers, and healthcare innovators to discuss strategies for addressing systemic barriers in healthcare.
The Axmed Medicines Platform leverages technology to enhance supply chains, improve procurement efficiency, and ensure that high-quality medicines reach underserved populations, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). By streamlining the healthcare distribution system, the platform aims to reduce inefficiencies and improve the affordability and availability of medicines.
Speaking at the summit, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Health, Dr. Deborah Barasa, emphasized the importance of technology-driven supply chains in strengthening healthcare systems. She highlighted the role of real-time data monitoring and digital coordination in enhancing distribution, minimizing waste, and ensuring accountability.
Axmed Addressing Medicine Access Inequities
The Axmed Medicines Platform is designed to tackle persistent challenges in medicine procurement, which disproportionately affect LMICs. According to the World Health Organization, over 80% of global population growth in the next decade will occur in these regions, which already bear the highest disease burden.
Axmed CEO Emmanuel Akpakwu accented the potential for transformation in these markets, stating that the platform consolidates fragmented procurement systems, improves efficiency, and enables suppliers to scale sustainably.
The Axmed Access Summit serves as a platform for collaboration among key stakeholders, including pharmaceutical manufacturers, governments, logistics companies, and healthcare providers. Over 60 leading organizations are engaging with Axmed to develop sustainable solutions for medicine access.
A move that CS Deborah points to as an initiative complementing the 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 necessities,” said CS.
Strategic Partnerships for Healthcare Advancement
Axmed CEO Emmanuel Akpakwu and Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Health, Dr. Deborah Barasa
Axmed’s mission extends beyond cost reduction; it seeks to strengthen global healthcare systems through strategic partnerships. The initiative is backed by the Gates Foundation and venture firm Founderful, with a particular focus on Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (MNCH) in Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Nigeria.
Dr. Barasa emphasized the critical need to address maternal and newborn health challenges, noting that partnerships like Axmed’s enhance healthcare delivery and efficiency. She further called on the diverse stakeholders in the sector to work together in building a resilient, people-centered health system that empowers every Kenyan to lead a healthy and fulfilling life.
The Axmed Medicines Platform operates as a business-to-business (B2B) marketplace, connecting qualified buyers—such as hospitals, governments, and healthcare providers—with pharmaceutical suppliers. By aggregating demand, the platform improves purchasing power, reduces costs, and increases transparency in medicine procurement.
Akpakwu stressed the importance of collaboration in achieving systemic change:
“No technology can solve these challenges alone. True transformation requires partnerships and shared accountability. The summit fosters collaboration and defines a clear path for collective impact.”
Through innovation and strategic alliances, Axmed aims to reshape healthcare procurement, ensuring that medicines are more accessible, affordable, and efficiently distributed across LMICs.