Validated buyers and distributors of Covid-19 and diabetes diagnostics from Kenya will be able to purchase their products via Kountable, an online global trade and technology platform.
The assessment seeks to evaluate the impact of interventions on the affordability of quality-assured diagnostic tests for Covid-19 and diabetes.
The impact assessment of the trade finance and governance initiative will run until July 2022.
This is after it was established that there is often a delay between local distributors paying to receive a shipment and subsequently being reimbursed by the local authority or hospital that is buying them.
To cover this gap, the distributor often must borrow working capital, which can be time-consuming and expensive due to the high interest rates charged by local banks.
“These inefficiencies eventually have an impact on investment in research and development innovation and global price negotiation,” Head of Market Shaping at FIND Kartik Sharma said.
“The collaborative initiative is designed to generate evidence for solving these issues and enable fair and predictable pricing.”
The initiative is between FIND, the global alliance for diagnostics, and Kountable to help address challenges faced by diagnostic procurement bodies.
Also taking part in the assessment are buyers and distributors from Rwanda.
“Technology and price transparency go hand in hand. Technology platforms have reshaped markets from e-commerce to stock trading, and every time a platform brings transparency, consumers win,” Kountable CEO Chris Hale said.
This will enable them to purchase quality-assured diagnostics for Covid-19 and diabetes with improved governance, trade optimization and funding assistance.
Kountable's platform connects the best small businesses procuring goods for their customers to the best global suppliers and buyers to deliver products and successful projects on time, in full and on budget.
For Covid-19, products will be limited to those antigen rapid tests that have received WHO Emergency Use listing such as those manufactured by Abbott, SD Biosensor and Premier Medical Corporation.
For diabetes, a range of blood-glucose monitoring products that are approved by a stringent regulatory authority and locally registered in Kenya and Rwanda will be available during the assessment period.
“Transactions are registered through Kountable’s simple-to-use application. Kountable is convenient and ensured the seamless execution of the project,” Ben Ndungu said.
Ndungu is the CEO of Biodesk, a wholesaler in Kenya, and one of the validated distributors participating in the initiative.
“For organizations supplying diagnostic products, procuring quality goods at accessible pricing remains one of the biggest barriers,” Hale said.
This is due to issues with governance, as well as risks and inefficiencies in the supply chain affecting buyers and distributors that result in high charges to end-users and patients, he said.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris
