February 25, 2016
Friends of the Global Fight recently hosted a webinar with the Global Fund Senior Manager Anna Van Nieuwenhuizen to discuss the new e-marketplace initiative, Wambo.org. For global health institutions that provide lifesaving commodities, such as the Global Fund and in-country partners, market conditions often present challenges to the procurement of such medicines and other supplies. Obstacles can include limited transparency and visibility, time-consuming manual processes, and difficulties in achieving economies of scale while fostering greater country ownership. As the largest public health financier in the world, the Global Fund is in an unprecedented position to overcome these challenges.
Wambo.org has been designed to increase the Global Fund’s impact and value for money by streamlining procurement operations, optimizing costs, and supporting countries that are transitioning out of Global Fund financing by facilitating continued access affordable prices for commodities to treat and prevent HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Currently, Principal Recipients (PRs) of Global Fund financing must allow up to 21 days to place an order, but Wambo.org will drastically reduce this wait time by giving PRs instantaneous access to comparisons on price, lead time and quantity across suppliers. Data on transactions will be available to PRs immediately, compared to the six-month gap that exists under the current procurement system.
In crafting this e-marketplace, the Global Fund consulted with more than 120 PR representatives in nine countries, bringing PRs into the process early on to ensure that Wambo.org will satisfy the needs of its users. Early feedback has been very positive.
The Global Fund has also consulted broadly with other partners in the development of Wambo.org. It has worked with UNITAID to close the access gap to new and innovative products and services. Additionally, the Global Fund is partnering with the Clinton Health Access Initiative to support PRs with training on Wambo.org, and ensure that support continues after this initial training.
Current projections show that Wambo.org has the potential to result in a net savings of approximately $246 million in 2019. As the e-marketplace’s implementation progresses, these savings will be re-invested in the fight to end the three diseases, and will help to ensure sustainability of the new e-marketplace. Ultimately, the Global Fund would like to have Wambo.org available beyond HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria efforts, to include a broad range of procurement and supply chain systems across public health.
For more information on Wambo.org, please see the full webinar below.