The drug management agencies of Sokoto and Nasarawa states have signed a memorandum of understanding with local pharmaceutical manufacturers in efforts to secure access to health consumables in health facilities.

The local manufacturers come under the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria.

It comes after a showcase of the current public-private partnership between Kaduna State and the pharma group at a “leadership breakfast meeting” in Lagos in early March.

The meeting emphasized the importance of PPP in ensuring access to lifesaving health commodities, including vaccines, in Nigeria.

It hosted health commissioners, executive secretaries of drug management agencies, heads of pharmaceutical companies, private sector stakeholders and representatives from development partners.

The Africa Resource Centre for Excellence in Supply Chain Management organized the meeting to strengthen the supply chain system and implement the Scale-up Plan for primary health centres on the One Public Health Supply Chain Network operation.

Kaduna health commissioner, Amina Baloni, convened the meeting to provide an opportunity for leadership in both the public and private sector to share learnings, challenges and opportunities for collaboration to improve the availability of health commodities at the last mile across states.

Baloni said Kaduna has been able to increase the availability of essential medicines and strengthen its supply chain systems.

She noted states need to leverage technology andther innovation, including drone technology, to address challenges in last-mile distribution.

That is particularly significant for areas rendered hard to reach due to difficult terrains or insecurity.

Such technologies are meant to eliminate delays in delivering lifesaving commodities and ensure that commodities are available when needed.

Agreements of public-private partnership go back to an initial one between PMG-MAN and Yobe in 2020.

Since then, more states are adopting the model to strengthen their supply chain and close the gap in access to medicines, according to Dr Fidelis Ayebae, the Chairman of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (PMG-MAN).

He noted Kaduna’s growing ability to achieve direct access to local manufacturers and shared accountability for medicine quality as an instance