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:
New positions will accelerate their efforts to use digital technology to improve access to quality healthcare for underserved populations
Recently, PharmAccess Foundation’s country directors in Ghana and Nigeria, Dr. Maxwell Antwi and Njide Ndili, were appointed to two new positions. First, as board members of the World Health Organization’s Global Roster of Experts on Digital Health and second, as members of The Lancet and Financial Times (FT) Commission on Governing Health Futures, 2030.
World Health Organization Global Roster of Experts
The Global Roster of Experts will provide high-level global strategic advice and support to the WHO Secretariat on the Organization’s digital health vision and strategy. The group will advise the WHO Secretariat on potentially effective new areas for intervention.
In a statement by Dr. Antwi, the appointment is timely as Ghana, as the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) is currently deploying electronic claims management and integration with the National Identification Authority blockchain-enabled supply chain for medicines, in partnership with the Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG). According to Dr. Antwi, the platform will offer Ghana an opportunity to be counted among the nations using digital technology to accelerate achievement of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and SDG 3.
The group will also support the WHO’s Organization’s digital health vision and strategy. The Global Roster of Experts are also set to review the digital health frontier landscape and advise the WHO Secretariat on new areas for intervention in that subject.
The Lancet and Financial Times (FT) Commission on Governing Health Futures 2030
The commission is set to run from October 2019 to December 2021 and will explore the impact of digital health, AI and other frontier technologies on UHC, with a special focus on improving the health of children and young people.
The commission will focus on examining integrative policies for digital health, AI and UHC, and identifying policies with the strongest potential for maximizing health equity in resource-restricted settings.
According to Njide Ndili, “The Commission presents a platform for knowledge exchange and aims to improve healthcare access in Africa using digital technology and AI. My experience in the sector has given me the privilege to contribute towards designing, testing and scaling innovations that seek to improve access and efficiency. I am and remain passionate about this, as mobile telephony will continue to play a crucial role in healthcare in Africa, especially for the young and under-served populations.”
The Commission Secretariat is housed at the Global Health Centre, Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies in Geneva. The first meeting of the Commission is scheduled in Berlin on October 30 and 31, 2019.
