Gates Foundation Backs Field’s $11M Maternal Health Initiative

Field, an African healthtech company, has announced the launch of a route-to-market service that will introduce emerging therapies to tackle the urgency of maternal mortality, newborn and child health, along with nutrition.

The initiative will leverage Field’s proprietary technology, distribution, and financing services, which currently powers a network of over 40,000 private and public healthcare providers in rural and urban areas across Kenya and Nigeria. The initiative launches with an initial $11m in support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in recognition of Field’s commitment to introduce emerging therapies and supply chain transformation in combating Africa’s most urgent health priorities.

Since its inception in 2015, Field’s streamlined infrastructure has facilitated over 800 million health interventions across more than 60 therapeutic areas, such as family planning, HIV and Tuberculosis. Starting in Kenya and Nigeria, with scope to expand to other regions. Field will advance on its unique capabilities within complex distribution channels to create an accelerated route to market for emerging therapies and technologies. This is to include an extensive digitisation overhaul for private healthcare providers, hospitals and healthcare bodies at State and Federal level, with financing options to strengthen operations and purchasing capabilities.

Additionally, healthcare providers stand to benefit from last-mile delivery to improve day-to-day health services and the installation of pharma-grade refrigerators. In its entirety, the service will be reinforced by the establishment of a coalition to include governments, manufacturers and other key stakeholders for one of the continent’s most ambitious maternal health programs to-date.

Maternal mortality is one of the continent’s most pressing healthcare challenges. The likelihood that a woman will die in childbirth in Africa is 45x higher than in Europe. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Africa accounted for 69 percent of global maternal deaths, with Nigeria alone representing 29 percent of all maternal deaths worldwide in 2020.

Field’s service will provide expectant mothers in Africa access to emerging therapies such as heat-stable carbetocin and calibrated drapes, which detect and treat postpartum haemorrhage, the leading cause of maternal mortality in Africa. The platform will accelerate these new interventions, support established therapies, and address related complications like preeclampsia.

Speaking on the initiative, Michael Moreland, CEO & Founder of Field, says, “This is public health powered by technology and today’s news recognises the products and services that Field has built over the past eight years scaled and integrated into large-scale public health programs; this is what we believe health technology companies should be doing; joining innovative, impactful coalitions between private and public entities”.

“Digitally powering, networking, and financing health systems at scale will have an overwhelmingly positive effect on access to quality care. With funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation we are set to rapidly improve mother and child survival in every setting .’’

A number of global pharma and health companies have exited the continent in the past 18 months. Moreland adds, “We’ve seen genuine, meaningful gains being made in healthcare delivery outcomes, however in this current tough economic climate, without coordinated systems and processes, the progress will slow or slip. Alongside our funders, our role is to ensure this doesn’t happen because the problems the healthcare space is facing will not be solved on its own. This is where Field, and its funders, come in and we’re excited to get to work on this technology-powered infrastructure blueprint for public health services”.

In addition to this new initiative, Field continues to grow and scale its technology solutions across the continent. In Field Supply, it has created the largest pharmaceutical supply chain platform in Africa. Its distribution service Shelf Life distributes over 3,000 quality products across more than 50 therapeutic areas, reaching over 2,500 pharmacies and hospitals in 24 cities in Nigeria and Kenya, including government facilities, large hospital systems, retail chains, insurance companies and family-operated drug stores. The platform also provides trade financing solutions for priority therapies and equipment that addresses working capital constraints that often hinder investment in new medical interventions.