Imperial has announced that Vitalliance, its joint venture with technology provider One Network Enterprises, has been selected to steward the OpenLMIS platform serving nine countries in Africa, beginning in March 2021.
OpenLMIS is a leading electronic logistics management information system (LMIS) purpose-built to manage public health supply chains in low- and middle-income countries, including Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia.
The partnership will also augment OpenLMIS through new service tiers that offer rich capabilities and services, which will further its ability to reduce stockout rates and enable health workers to provide better patient care.
One of these service tiers includes the integration of One Network’s industry-leading control tower with OpenLMIS, in order to bring end-to-end supply chain visibility and coordinated planning from the point of care to global distributors and manufacturers.
A healthcare control tower provides multiparty visibility, planning, decision-making and execution based on real-time analytics. It also assists clients in tracking orders and third-party partners involved in the healthcare supply chain at a fraction of the cost of legacy systems.
The integration of this control tower with OpenLMIS has the potential for creating the largest connected healthcare network in Africa.
The partnership is the culmination of a process by the OpenLMIS community to create an innovative public-private partnership that supports the growth and sustainability of global public goods.
“OpenLMIS is excited to begin this next phase of supply chain evolution with Vitalliance and the management expertise they bring from Imperial and One Network,” says OpenLMIS director Brian Taliesin. “Their alignment with our community values and vision promise a strong and sustainable future.”
Growth and expansion of its digital offering is a strategic imperative for Imperial. “Not only is this partnership supportive of the important work being done by OpenLMIS in healthcare, but it is aligned with Imperial’s purpose, which is connecting Africa and the world and improving people’s lives with access to quality products and services,” says Cobus Rossouw, executive vice-president: digital and IT at Imperial.
“Our control tower solutions are core to our differentiated and integrated service offering to clients across all the industries we serve in Africa. This robust proven technology will help enable and accelerate the goal of universal health coverage across the continent.”