The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation provided MSH a three-year grant to continue its efforts in Africa to involve private drug sellers in enhancing access to essential medicines. The Sustainable Drug Seller Initiatives (SDSI) program builds on MSH’s Strategies for Enhancing Access to Medicines (SEAM) and East African Drug Seller Initiatives (EADSI) programs. Those programs focused on creating and implementing public-private partnerships using government accreditation to increase access to quality pharmaceutical products and services in underserved areas of Tanzania and Uganda. The new program’s goal is to ensure the maintenance and sustainability of these public-private drug seller initiatives in Tanzania and Uganda and to introduce and roll out the initiative in Liberia.

In addition, MSH worked with the World Bank and other implementing organizations on a drug seller accreditation initiative targeting the distribution of antimalarials in Zambia.