Two technology companies have joined forces to develop a blockchain-powered system to tackle the twin issues of medicines falsification and preventing diversion of charitable donations. Switzerland's OriginAll is working with Partisia Blockchain on a system that will combine unique identifiers (UIDs) on medicine packs with digital tokens – known as Healthies – that according to the companies will help to ensure "equitable access to safe, verifiable medicines and healthcare products." "Each transaction is tied to the...UID of the legitimate product [and] transactions that don't meet these criteria will fail," they said. Use of blockchain means that private data about the transactions can be kept confidential, and people who do have access to or use a bank account. Corruption is another key factor, one that is acknowledged by OriginAll and Partisia Blockchain which say that "many layers of middlemen…disincentivises international NGOs from deploying more funds to improve healthcare across Africa."

Source: The North Africa Journal December 22, 2021 20:34 UTC