As the world struggles with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, hera remains committed to supporting health systems globally and protecting and advocating for the right to health and development for all. As a member of the DFID HEART consortium, hera has stepped up to provide a leading role on medical supply chain, pharmaceuticals, vaccines and equipment issues and inquiries that arise for the HEART COVID-19 response.
HEART is a resource centre providing DFID staff and other development actors with health, education, nutrition, social protection and WASH knowledge and expertise. The HEART consortium partners bring a broad set of tools and expertise allowing HEART to quickly access and share evidence and expert advice, helping time-pressured decision-makers better understand, interpret and apply evidence.
Our work with HEART on medical supply chain, pharmaceuticals, vaccines and equipment issues for COVID-19 is supported by a dedicated Pharma Team based in a mix of countries: high-income (New Zealand, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Canada), middle-income (Suriname, Mongolia) and low-income (Sierra Leone, DRC, Rwanda, Zimbabwe). This global team is involved in a number of local and regional COVID-19 responses and can support countries and organisations with guidelines and technical tools necessary for organising COVID-19 preparedness or responses.
hera also has a dedicated Health Advisory Services team in Brussels providing technical and policy support to the European Commission and EU delegations in lower and middle-income countries. This included support during the recent Ebola outbreak and currently includes COVID-19 strategic support.
hera partners are also actively working on a number of related portfolios including; promoting access and quality of essential medicines and supplies (QUAMED) and supporting non-profit wholesalers in the African region (eg ASRAMES in Goma, DRC), supporting regulatory agencies in Africa and Asia in medicines and devices control, auditing the service quality of humanitarian procurement centres (HPC) and OFDA acknowledged procurement agencies, and supporting the EAC Regional Centre of Excellence for Vaccines, Immunization and Health Supply Chain Management at the University of Rwanda, Kigali.
If you have any questions or would like to learn more about our COVID-19 responses and resources, please email: covid-19@hera.eu
