Digital health solutions: How Tanzanian youth connects pharmaceutical actors

Digital supremacy has not only ended with space-technology and communication, but has made its way towards health. In this case, Tanzanian youth have used ingenuity in domesticating seamless digital solutions and in making sure essential health services are simplified. It is the youth who are now innovating realistic and customized digital solutions that link pharmaceutical suppliers, manufacturers, importers and retailers in one system, to ensure pharmaceutical services are executed proficiently and in an organized manner. The health sector in Tanzania, a nation with more than 55 million people,  whose Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 6.8 per cent in the third quarter (according to Bank of Tanzania Quarterly Bulletin), contributed less to the real GDP with only 0.7 per cent, still, its stakeholders strive to develop different spheres of the sector which is crucial for the nation’s welfare. According to WHO, and UN Comtrade and Business Monitor, Tanzania’s pharmaceutical market is forecast to grow to almost $700 million by 2021, far higher than 2017 numbers which stood at $450 million. This was attributed by the government as a positive forecast translated into constant efforts to transform Tanzania into a middle-income economy by 2025. Hence, in that context, Pharmlinks Tanzania, a