The Strategic Purchasing Africa Resource Center (SPARC) is a resource center hosted by Amref Health Africa with technical support from Results for Development (R4D). It aims to strengthen strategic purchasing capacity in sub-Saharan Africa by linking existing regional expertise and matching it with country demand to make better use of resources for health. Its vision is to provide countries with the knowledge and practical tools needed to make access to affordable, quality healthcare a reality for all.
SPARC relies on strong partnerships with global, regional and national partners to ensure coherence in the identification of national strategic healthcare procurement priorities, capacity building needs and a regional learning agenda. To this end, SPARC has partnered with 11 African institutions – a mix of English- and French-speaking academic institutions, research institutes, think tanks and policy analysis firms – to develop adaptable products, processes and knowledge to advance the implementation of strategic healthcare procurement on the continent. Through this technical partnership, SPARC has analyzed countries’ strategic purchasing policies and actions, and measured the progress of strategic purchasing in sub-Saharan Africa.
From January 21 to 23, 2020, SPARC and its 11 technical partners: i) KEMRI Wellcome Trust Programme (Kenya) ; ii) Ifakara Health Institute (Tanzania) ; iii) University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) ; iv) Makerere University School of Public Health (Uganda) ; v) University of Rwanda School of Public Health (Rwanda) ; vi) Centre de Recherche en Reproduction Humaine et en Démographie (CERRHUD), Benin ; vii) Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana ; viii° Health Policy Research Group (HPRG), Nigeria ; ix) Recherche pour la Santé et le Développement (RESADE), Burkina Faso ; x) University of Cape Town Health Economics Unit, South Africa ; xi) Research for Development International (R4D International), Cameroon met in Cotonou, Benin, to discuss the progress made in completing the Strategic Healthcare Procurement Progress Matrix, and the lessons that have emerged in the different countries.
