Easy access to primary healthcare is critical for early detection and treatment of health issues. Primary care is best given by groups of primary care professionals who work together to coordinate care. However, in Sub-Saharan Africa, universal access to such care is limited.

Digital healthcare platforms have a significant chance to expand access to team-based care across the area. They have the potential to lower the cost of high-quality care while improving health outcomes, reach patients in rural locations, and relieve strain on established medical support systems.

Such forums have grown in popularity around the world as a result of the pandemic, and Africa is no exception. With its telehealth service, a new platform based in South Africa hopes to provide Africans with affordable, high-quality care. To that end, it has closed a $3 million pre-Series A investment.

Webrock Ventures is a venture-building investment firm situated in Stockholm, Sweden. So, in essence, the firm joins with Swedish IT companies and creates portfolio businesses by combining its cash with the companies’ business concepts. It does so while still owning a significant portion of the company.

Since the beginning of the epidemic, global telehealth investments have soared, increasing by more than 50%. With several of the world’s fastest-growing economies, investors and businesses are increasingly looking to Africa as a significant growth market for services in high demand.

A entirely new opportunity is created by forging a new alliance. Healthforce can use its current position to bring Doktor.se’s core technology to a new direct-to-patient market. Webrock, a willing investment machine set up to scale the platform, is in the backdrop.

The new company will use a freemium model to target the uninsured B2C market. On-demand and planned consultations with nurses, general practitioners, and mental health specialists are available through the site. It will be integrated with Healthforce’s broader primary care offering and will provide chronic care management.

The healthcare market in Sub-Saharan Africa is estimated to be worth $90 billion. However, health insurance coverage in Sub-Saharan Africa is in the single digits (percentage-wise), with the exception of South Africa, which has 16 percent coverage. According to Kornik, the three parties aim to handle a big amount of the problem and are in agreement on how Africa’s healthcare system should look if it succeeds.

“This is a pure-play healthcare provider company. We will deliver high-quality healthcare at low cost to 75 million people through telemedicine through this pan-African enterprise, literally placing healthcare in the palm of their hands,” stated Saul Kornik, co-founder and CEO of Healthforce.

Tanzania has recorded 100 new Covid-19 cases since the third wave of the viral disease broke out across the globe, President Samia Suluhu Hassan said on Monday.
In her maiden press conference at State House in Dar es Salaam on Monday, President Hassan said 70 of the 100 patients were critical.
“About 70 are on ventilators,” she said.
It was the first time Tanzania was making made Covid-19 statistics public since May 2020.

The fifth phase administration of former President John Magufuli at some point denied the existence of Covid-19 in the country.
President Hassan has adopted a completely different approach to dealing with the pandemic since ascending to power on March 19, following following Magufuli’s death on March 17.
She said on Monday that as soon as she was sworn-in as President, she embarked on ways to adopt globally-accepted measures of preventing the spread of the coronavirus, including vaccination.

Vaccination budget

Meanwhile, the Tanzanian government says it will spend at least $470 million to purchase Covid-19 vaccines and bail out sectors that were severely hit by the pandemic.
President Suluhu made the announcement during her meeting with editors and journalists at the State House in Dar es Salaam.

The President further said Tanzania has registered for the Covax package and will therefore be ready to administer the vaccine doses in the near future.
“We have $470 million to order vaccines and equipment to use in the fight against coronavirus,” she said.
She added that vaccination will be voluntary to give citizens the opportunity to choose what is best for them.
The President did not name the vaccine the country will procure given many nations have developed jabs for the killer virus which brought global economies to their knees.
Recently, the government applied for a $571 million (about Sh1.3 trillion) loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help it tackle economic challenges resulting from the pandemic.
Tabling the government’s Sh36.3 trillion 2021/22 budget in Parliament on June 10, the government said this was a low-interest loan aimed at tackling the social and economic impacts of Covid-19.
IMF officials in Dar es Salaam and Washington were quoted by Reuters as confirming talks on the matter, noting, however, that Tanzania would have to provide information on Covid-19.

Misr Capital, Banque Misr’s investment arm, and Elevate Private Equity have unveiled Nile Misr Scan & Labs, a $380 million healthcare investment platform.

After seeding initial contributions Banque Misr’s cash pledge and Elevate Private Equity’s in-kind contribution to the platform, the platform managers hope to raise $150 million before the first closure in Q1 2022.

Elevate Private Equity has established a solid track record as the strategic manager of Nile Scan & Labs Co, achieving a 38 percent CAGR over the last four years, effectively making it the fastest growing healthcare entity in Egypt and the country.

Nile Misr Healthcare is built on the two partners’ strong investment and medical expertise, which will actively manage the fund strategy and acquire highly selective targets with high potential across healthcare verticals such as hospitals, diagnostic facilities, pharmaceuticals, medical education, and digital medical services in Egypt and Sub-Saharan Africa.

“Responsible investments come at the top of Misr Capital’s priorities, particularly in sectors like healthcare that contribute to the society in which we operate,” said Akef El Maghraby, Chairman of Misr Capital and Vice Chairman of Banque Misr.

“Investing in healthcare not only brings meaningful, tangible benefits to society, but it also aligns with the UN’s Sustainable Development Target 3 and the UN’s Principles of Responsible Investments.”

Tarek Moharram, a healthcare veteran with over 14 years of experience leading, creating, and expanding medical institutions in Egypt, will lead the platform as CEO.

“This collaboration combines Elevate Private Equity’s technological and strategic capabilities with Misr Capital’s esteemed financial and investment track record, resulting in the formation of a forum that will aggressively seek M&A transactions in the extremely fragmented healthcare spaces around our target jurisdictions. Our long-term strategy is to create bigger, integrated institutions that offer robust, world-class healthcare to larger communities across Egypt and Sub-Saharan Africa, while also having a positive effect on the broader economies and providing superior returns to investors,” he added.

“Most notably, the platform is founded on a comprehensive expertise set that includes veteran healthcare specialists, seasoned financial executives, and a deep line-up of established investors backed by Banque Misr, one of Africa’s oldest and most renowned banks,” he said.

Following the fulfillment of all requisite permits, the platform is scheduled to sign its first selling and purchasing agreement (SPA) within weeks. Misr Capital’s financial and tax advisors were Ernst & Young Egypt, and its legal advisors were Alliance Law Firm and Al Kamel Law Firm.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has initiated a new $19 million five-year fund to finance programs in Nigeria aimed at enhancing the quality of health worker preparation.

This was revealed in a statement released by USAID in Abuja yesterday, during an event attended by Health Office Director Paul McDermott and other key government health sector officials. It noted that the Health Workforce Management initiative will prepare 100,000 by 2025.

Health Workforce Management will facilitate the establishment of cost-effective, well-trained and empowered health staff in the targeted rural and remote areas of Bauchi, Sokoto, Kebbi and Ebonyi States, as well as the Federal Capital Territory.

“We invest in health staff because good and skilled human capital for health boost health outcomes and save lives. The operation will help efforts to resolve the current problems faced by health workers in Nigeria,” McDermott said at the virtual ceremony.

Health Staff Management will enhance human capital, boost the governance of health workers and create interventions to improve the retention of health workers. The activity is expected to generate 100,000 additional health professionals over the next five years, capable of responding to existing and potential health needs of the communities of the targeted states,” the statement said.

Health Workforce Management will prepare these primary health care employees to help develop a more capable workforce that can adapt to health demands, increase the delivery and skill balance of front-line workers, and enhance training organizations so they will implement and apply more effective human resource management techniques.

“The plan could not have came at a better time. Addressing health worker maldistribution by generating the required expertise mix of frontline health staff at the primary care level would be more effective. We look forward to meaningful progress and promise to collaborate with and support USAID every step of the way,” Dr. Usman Adamu, Director of Primary Health Care Services Development at the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, said.

Banyan Global will carry out the operation in partnership with Abt Associates, the Institute for Healthcare Development, and Solina Health. It’s part of a $793 million USAID program of activities aimed at integrating health care delivery at the primary level, generating demand for health services, and improving supply chain management at the subnational level.

Vezeeta, a digital healthcare network in the Middle East and Africa, has announced the introduction of its ePharmacy solution (Vezeeta Pharmacy), which helps consumers to order prescription drugs via a smartphone app.

Using the mobile app, users of Vezeeta will upload their e-prescriptions, add their insurance requirements, select cash or cashless payment options before checking out, and arrange same-day home delivery in Cairo and Giza.

Patients may now integrate their pharmacy expertise with medical tele-consultation, as well as 24/7 access to approved pharmacists and service providers. This ensures that they can fulfill their wellbeing needs effortlessly, from start to finish.

“We’re on a wonderful patient ride. By giving our consumers the data to choose from and the best digital resources to be used, Vezeeta continues to inspire its patients in every step of health care,” said Amir Barsoum, Founder & CEO at Vezeeta

In addition to the launch of the big disruptor, Vezeeta, via its CEO, has also revealed plans to pump more than US$25 million into its Egyptian market this year. Both steps are coming as the coronavirus set a record-breaking 2020 for the African ehealth market.

“We’re the first digitally interconnected physicians in our healthcare ecosystem, and now we’re doing the same for pharmacists. Our pharmacists receive outstanding training and compensation to ensure that every customer has a positive experience, every time they log in to the Vezeeta app,” Maha Melhem, Vice President of ePharmacy at Vezeeta, said.

Vezeeta, according to Melhem, adheres to stringent hygiene requirements with its exclusive high-quality packaging, meaning that patients can rely on the organization to provide critical medicines in one hour or less.

The e-solution is a core component of Vezeeta’s robust healthcare offering, which also provides physical and virtual doctor appointments, as well as lab and scan access. Both of these are meant to improve patient accessibility and affordability.

Vezeeta Pharmacy has treated over a million patients in Cairo and Giza to date, with additional cities expected to be added in the immediate future. Vezeeta strives to provide patients with their free medical history on the smartphone app through its in-pharmacy SaaS, e-prescriptions, teleconsultations, and AI-assisted distribution.

Vezeeta is helping more people save time, money, and stress while accessing quality services, optimizing clinical outcomes, and putting patient happiness at the center of its technologies by delivering uninterrupted interactive healthcare experiences to patients from the comfort of their own homes.