HITLAB Team • April 18, 2025
The private sector is the first, and often only, point of care for millions across Africa. These trusted community providers serve all income levels, in cities and rural areas, often filling gaps where public services fall short. They have existing demand for a wide range of health needs, whereas community health workers often aim to create new demand for a limited set of services.
But without a way to integrate them into the broader health system and channel their influence toward better health outcomes, they’ve worked in silos, leaving targeted health programs—in malaria, HIV, and more—unable to leverage this critical first-line resource.
While some software solutions support patient services, few have the supply chain capabilities to oversee the quality and affordability of what gets dispensed at the last mile. Fewer still can do so across the fragmented network of private, independently owned pharmacies and clinics.
How Maisha Meds is Transforming Healthcare in Africa
Maisha Meds is a digital health platform committed to making basic healthcare affordable and accessible across Africa. It supports pharmacies and clinics, which often serve as the first and sometimes the only point of care for many patients. The Maisha Meds app helps rural pharmacists and clinicians procure high-quality, cost-effective medicines while also improving inventory management. By capturing transaction data, the app ensures that essential medicines remain in stock, prevents stockouts and expired products, and enhances transparency across the supply chain. The platform also collects valuable data on market trends and health outcomes, providing insights that can improve healthcare delivery and resource allocation.
Maisha Meds’ digital reimbursement system incentivizes providers to deliver high-quality care for malaria, family planning, HIV prevention, and more while keeping out-of-pocket costs low for patients. In 2023, a randomized controlled trial with UC Berkeley found that its reimbursement program more than quadrupled provider adherence to malaria testing and treatment protocols in Kenya, increasing compliance from 8% to 33%. The organization currently operates in Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, Uganda, and Zambia, building a network of nearly 4,000 pharmacies, clinics, and drug shops that deliver quality care to millions.
HITLAB’s Assessment of the Maisha Meds App
HITLAB conducted a comprehensive assessment of the Maisha Meds Android app, evaluating its design, functionality, ease of use, and applicability in real-world healthcare settings. The assessment highlighted several key strengths that make the app a reliable point-of-sale and inventory management system. It streamlines sales transactions with features for supplier management, patient record management, stock level tracking, transaction history, and generating reports on sales, profit margins, and expenses. The platform is available in both local languages and English and uses simple terminology to enhance accessibility. Additionally, customer support is available through phone calls and messages, ensuring users receive timely assistance.
The evaluation identified opportunities to further strengthen the app’s usability and impact. These insights have been shared with the Maisha Meds product team to support ongoing improvements in user experience, operational efficiency, and data integrity. As the platform continues to grow, enhancing functionality remains a central focus to better meet the needs of its users.
Committed to improving healthcare accessibility and affordability across Africa, Maisha Meds is launching new initiatives to support HIV PrEP (p re-e xposure p rophylaxis), vision care, and the management of malaria-negative fevers. The organization is also enhancing its technology infrastructure with a custom-built claims auditing platform, transitioning its backend systems to Amazon Web Services (AWS), and introducing a digital wallet to make a wider range of health commodities more affordable. Additionally, Maisha Meds is working to improve national data integration by addressing complex technical and policy challenges, ensuring seamless compatibility with each country’s unique data infrastructure while maintaining the highest standards of data privacy and security.
About Maisha Meds
Founded in 2017, Maisha Meds has developed the largest digital network of private pharmacies and clinics in Africa. Its user-driven software powers over 4,600 drug shops, pharmacies, and clinics across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Nigeria, reaching 25 million patient visits annually. Within the same software that providers use every day to run their business, Maisha Meds integrates evidence-backed health programs that have directly supported over a million patients to date. These programs work by delivering two key resources: vetted medicines via independent supply chains, and provider reimbursements that raise care standards while lowering patient costs. This is powered by AI-enabled auditing systems and robust data pipelines sharing real-time insights with government and global health partners.
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Amy West
Principal Director, Advisory Services & Chair, Women's Health Tech Initiative, HITLAB
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