PharmAccess is a group of non-profit organizations dedicated to improving access to quality healthcare in Africa. PharmAccess mobilizes public and private resources for the benefit of doctors and patients through clinical standards and quality improvements, loans for healthcare providers, health insurance, mHealth innovations and operational research.
This integrated approach is made possible by the following organizations:
Beginning with Dr. Joep Lange's vision "If we can get cold Coca-Cola and beer to every remote corner of Africa, it should not be impossible to do the same with drugs” the article calls attention to the major challenges facing the health system in Africa.
Writer, and Editor in Chief of Africa Renewal, Masimba Tafirenyika explained some of the key challenges of the healthcare system in Africa ‘access to decent health care is a daily struggle for the sick, due to seriously underfunded national health systems, lack of basic infrastructure to provide clean water and electricity and a serious shortage of health care workers.’
Although some progress has been made Masimba makes it clear that a new approach needs to be embraced for long term impact. He introduces the healthcare financing model, as proposed by PharmAccess in the award winning paradigm paper “A New Paradigm for Increased Access to Healthcare in Africa”, as an innovative approach to improving access and quality of healthcare. He goes on to share that PharmAccess goes beyond theory with proven initiatives such as the Kwara State Health Insurance Program in Nigeria, improved Community Health Fund (iCHF) in Tanzania and recently launched M-TIBA health wallet in Kenya.
Masimba concludes ‘the old system, whereby governments crowd out the private sector, has brought Africa to its current state. It is time to try new ideas that give more space to public-private entities that can provide the poor with greater access to health care.’
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