Field, a Nigerian healthtech company, has created a route-to-market service to introduce novel remedies for maternal mortality, infant and child health, and nutrition issues.
The program, supported by an initial $11 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will make use of Field’s proprietary technology, distribution, and finance capabilities.
This program presently powers more than 40,000 private and public healthcare providers in Kenya and Nigeria, both rural and urban.
Michael Moreland and Justin Lorenzo founded Field in 2015 as a pharmaceutical supply chain provider in Nigeria and Kenya with the goal of reshaping the pharmaceutical value chain.
Michael Moreland, CEO and Founder of Field, emphasised that leveraging digital technology to power, network, and finance health systems at scale will significantly improve access to quality care, and that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s support will help the company accelerate improvements in maternal and child survival across multiple settings.
Field’s service will give expectant moms in Africa access to new medications like heat-stable carbetocin and calibrated drapes, which identify and treat postpartum haemorrhage, Africa’s top cause of maternal mortality. It will also speed up these new procedures, supplement conventional medicines, and manage linked issues such as preeclampsia.
Moreland stated that, despite gains in healthcare delivery, the current economic context may impede development in the absence of unified systems and processes. He emphasised that the company’s job is to address these difficulties.
Shelf Life, the company’s distribution service, is said to distribute over 3,000 high-quality products in more than 50 therapeutic areas, reaching over 2,500 pharmacies and hospitals in 24 cities across Nigeria and Kenya, including government facilities, large hospital systems, retail chains, insurance companies, and family-owned drug stores.
The platform also offers trade financing options for priority therapies and equipment, addressing the operating financial constraints that frequently impede investment in breakthrough medical procedures.
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