SOUTH AFRICA: Kasha Launches Operation SHE Africa to Bridge Urgent Medicine Access Gap Following USAID Stop Work Order

Kasha in action

Millions at Risk After USAID Stop Work Order – Kasha’s Response

CAPE TOWN, WESTERN CAPE, SOUTH AFRICA, February 17, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- In response to the abrupt USAID Stop Work Order, which has disrupted vital health services across Africa and put millions of lives at risk, pan-African private sector company Kasha is mobilizing its health e-commerce and last-mile delivery platform to ensure life-saving medicines continue to reach those who need them most.

Kasha is leading an impact collective

called Operation SHE (Sustainable Health Equitably) Africa, comprised of private sector and philanthropic global health players to deliver essential healthcare products—from HIV treatment and malaria medication to vaccines and reproductive health supplies—directly to underserved communities.

Two major global foundations have already committed their support to this coalition, recognizing the urgency of the crisis and the proven effectiveness of Kasha’s model in ensuring uninterrupted healthcare access.

A Looming Health Crisis with Global Consequences

The USAID Stop Work Order has halted crucial health programmes across the continent, leaving warehouses full of expiring medicine, empty clinics, and cutting off millions from essential treatment. This disruption particularly impacts women, pregnant mothers, and youth, threatening to reverse decades of progress in HIV/AIDS treatment, malaria eradication, and reproductive healthcare.

• 42%-50% of the US global health budget is dedicated to HIV/AIDS programs, with $110 billion+ invested through PEPFAR since 2003.
• USAID-funded clinics have reduced their operations or closed, impacting access to ARVs, PrEP, and HIV self-test kits for many across Africa
• 40% of contraceptives distributed in Sub-Saharan Africa are USAID-procured—without intervention, the unmet need for family planning could lead to millions of unintended pregnancies annually and tens of thousands of maternal deaths.
• Malaria programs have stalled, cutting off critical supplies of diagnostic tests, insecticide-treated nets, and life-saving antimalarial drugs.

Kasha’s Immediate Response: Operation SHE Africa

As a proven solution operating at scale, Kasha’s Direct Health Access Service leverages Kasha’s digital commerce and last-mile delivery platform to provide a service in delivering essential health products across Africa. With GPS tracking, demographic insights, and a pay-for-results model, the platform ensures that funding is tied directly to impact—delivering medicine efficiently, transparently, and at scale.

Kasha will:
1. Source and deliver essential medicines, working with government and private sector partners.
2. Leverage its omnichannel digital platform and last-mile distribution network to ensure delivery to patients and health facilities in low-income communities.
3. Mobilize its trained network of over 3,500 agents—mostly women—to drive demand generation, support last-mile delivery and ensure medicine reaches vulnerable communities.
4. Track and report all deliveries, ensuring accountability and measurable impact.

A Call to Action: Join the Operation SHE Africa Impact Collective

Kasha is calling on partners and funders to join Operation SHE Africa urgently. With $10M, Kasha can operationalize 1 million deliveries across multiple countries in Africa, delivering health products to 20+ million patients.

Two major global foundations have indicated their strong commitment to supporting this coalition, and Kasha is actively engaging additional partners to scale the impact further.

Joanna Bichsel, Founder & CEO of Kasha, on the Urgency of Action

“The very sudden USAID Stop Work Order has massively impacted the global health system, leaving hundreds of millions of people without access to life-saving medication. While there is an immense amount of good that USAID has delivered to Africa and other emerging markets over the years, it is also true that technology-enabled private sector companies with locally built solutions operating at scale can pick up the pieces and help build a resilient and sustainable health system that reaches everyone equitably. Kasha was founded on the vision that health supply chains in Africa can be consumer-driven, data-driven, reach the last mile, and be optimized for women, and we’ve made this possible.

Operation SHE Africa is a call to stand up for equitable access to health that is cost-efficient and local private sector driven. It is about global partners working together to fill the urgent gaps in a crisis while building future health systems in Africa. Given the sudden urgency, we cannot do this alone. We call on partners and funders from the private sector, the philanthropic sector and the global health community to catalyze rapid action so we can deliver medicines quickly, along with a long-term sustainable solution.”

Act Now
To participate in the Impact Collective or help amplify this message, please contact OperationSHE@kasha.co