By Eamonn Ryan
This is the first of a two-part series on leveraging Track & Trace for patient safety and cold chain efficiency.
For temperature-sensitive medicines and vaccines, the integrity of the cold chain is as critical as the medicines themselves. Maintaining the correct temperature from manufacturer to patient is essential to preserve product efficacy, yet it remains one of the most vulnerable points in many healthcare supply chains. Increasingly, African healthcare systems are addressing this challenge through digital track and trace technologies that link product identification with real-time logistics data. By connecting barcodes to temperature monitoring systems and distribution records, healthcare providers can verify storage conditions, detect cold chain breaches quickly, and recall compromised products before they reach patients. This integration of traceability and cold chain management not only protects patient safety but also reduces waste, strengthens vaccine delivery programmes and improves overall supply chain efficiency across the continent.
The African healthcare landscape has been grappling with a persistent challenge: substandard and falsified medicines. These products not only threaten patient safety but also undermine public trust and strain healthcare supply chains. A recent podcast, Building Safer Healthcare Systems in Africa: Enabling Track & Trace Through Collaboration, highlighted how collaboration, digital innovation and adoption of GS1 standards are transforming the way African countries manage medicines, vaccines and medical devices.
Hosted by Wilson Karu, the discussion brought together global and regional experts – including Martin Neuron, who has been directly involved in implementing GS1-based traceability systems across the continent. The podcast explored successes, challenges and innovative strategies to ensure that medicines reach patients safely, efficiently and transparently.
The movement toward healthcare traceability in Africa started nearly a decade ago. In 2018, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, hosted a pivotal meeting of regulators and global experts, including African pioneers, to discuss how GS1 standards could enhance patient safety and tackle the growing problem of falsified medicines. A year later, in Lagos, Nigeria, a follow-up meeting consolidated these discussions, resulting in a regional consensus: African countries must collaborate, share experiences and adopt common frameworks to establish national track and trace systems.
These early conversations sparked a cascade of technical committees, bilateral knowledge exchanges, and pilot programmes that laid the foundation for modern traceability initiatives in more than ten African countries. The overarching lesson from these early efforts was that track and trace cannot succeed in isolation – it requires collaboration among regulators, manufacturers, hospitals and logistics providers.
GS1 standards: a common language for healthcare supply chains
GS1 standards provide a global framework for product identification and data exchange, enabling traceability at both batch and item levels. These standards allow healthcare systems to track medicines from manufacturing to patient delivery, ensuring authenticity, efficiency and safety.
In Africa, the adoption of GS1 standards has progressed steadily. Countries are at different stages: some have implemented full regulations, others are drafting frameworks, while many are actively building stakeholder engagement and infrastructure. The goal is to create consistent, interoperable systems that simplify processes for both healthcare providers and manufacturers.
African success stories
Nigeria stands out as a landmark example. Leveraging its national traceability system, Nigeria successfully recalled 100% of faulty COVID-19 vaccines within one hour. Each vaccine carried a Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) and a GS1 data matrix barcode. Once a batch was flagged as faulty, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) instantly identified its location across hospitals and states. This rapid response highlights the critical role of centralised, real-time data in safeguarding patients and preventing harm.
Zambia also showcases a successful adoption of GS1 standards. Previously hindered by fragmented product data and inconsistent identifiers, the Zambian Ministry of Health implemented a national traceability system beginning with HIV and AIDS medicines, later extending to antimalarials. By standardising product identifiers and integrating information across suppliers, warehouses and central medical stores, Zambia enabled staff to scan products and instantly access complete product data. This not only improved patient safety but also streamlined inventory management and operational efficiency.
In South Africa, Netcare – South Africa’s largest private hospital group – illustrates how GS1 standards can transform hospital operations. Historically reliant on paper-based processes and fragmented product identification, Netcare digitised its clinical and supply chain workflows. Suppliers were required to share data through the National Product Catalogue, and all products received standardised GS1 barcodes. The result: 85% of products now carry a GS1 identifier, providing greater visibility, reducing staff workload and improving patient safety. Netcare is also extending these initiatives to medical devices through UDI (Unique Device Identification) compliance.
continued in part two…