From the newsletter
Microsoft has partnered with Kenyan health-technology startup Zendawa to deploy an online AI tool for the management of independent pharmacies. The system digitises sales data, expiry tracking, demand forecasting and order routing. The rollout targets neighbourhood pharmacies, a core layer of last-mile medicine delivery in Africa.
Independent pharmacies are the first stop for basic outpatient care. This makes them central to last-mile delivery, but also exposes them directly to supply disruptions and operational inefficiencies.
Most pharmacies still rely on manual systems and struggle with inventory management, contributing to financial weakness that limits availability of essential medicines.
More details
The Zendawa AI platform, built on Microsoft 365 Copilot, Power BI and Azure, is a B2B digital ecosystem for neighbourhood pharmacies that is accessed via secure cloud-based web and mobile interfaces. The platform replaces manual pharmacy operations with enterprise tools that digitise last-mile pharmacy businesses.
Pharmacies join the platform through a phased onboarding process. Initial adoption digitises point-of-sale systems by replacing paper records with a unified dashboard. Pharmacists then interact with data via a Copilot-powered chatbot, using natural language queries to track expiries, sales and stock levels. After roughly three months of consistent data, an embedded financing module activates automatically.
Operational efficiency is driven by predictive inventory analytics and automated stock-taking. The platform also forecasts demand and flags near-expiry medicines. Early use reports show reduced expiry-related losses by two thirds and improved cash flow. This is important in sustaining operations for these pharmacies, some of which even offer basic diagnostic tests for diseases like malaria or screening for hypertension.
Local pharmacies are important in last-mile health delivery in Africa. They serve as the first and sometimes the only point of care for underserved communities in rural or densely populated urban areas. They close gaps in the public health sector by improving access to essential medicines and immediate care.
Pharmacies and accredited drug dispensing outlets are more accessible and numerous than public health facilities. In Tanzania, these outlets were created to improve access to essential medicines in rural areas. They also reduce congestion in public clinics by allowing patients to collect treatments such as antiretrovirals in Mozambique closer to home.
Our take
Most coverage of AI in health focuses on diagnostics or treatment but this is a good example of AI in last-mile healthcare delivery.
Digitising more pharmacy operations across the continent helps reduce the global health equity gap by ensuring access to the most basic health services in underserved regions.