BACKGROUND:
Fragmented procurement and logistics systems for essential medical products in Africa contribute to stockouts, inflated costs, and inequitable access. Pooled regional procurement has emerged globally as a promising strategy to enhance availability, reduce costs, and strengthen health system resilience, yet African countries face unique regulatory, logistical, and political challenges.

OBJECTIVES:
To analyze current procurement and logistics systems across African regional economic communities (RECs), identify barriers and enablers to pooled procurement, and propose policy strategies to optimize the regional organization of essential medical product supply chains.

METHODS:
A policy analysis was conducted, combining review of peer-reviewed literature, grey literature from WHO, Africa CDC, AU, and RECs, and comparative case studies of successful global pooled procurement models (PAHO, Nordic Joint Procurement, Gulf Cooperation). Data were extracted using a structured matrix and synthesized thematically across governance, regulatory harmonization, supply chain, financing, and logistics domains.

RESULTS:
Analysis revealed significant fragmentation in national procurement systems, limited cross-border regulatory harmonization, and weak supply chain integration. Regional initiatives, such as the Africa CDC’s Pooled Procurement of Vaccines and Medicines (PAVM) and WAHO’s joint procurement mechanism, demonstrate potential to reduce costs, improve availability, and enhance quality assurance. Key enablers included political commitment, digital procurement platforms, regional warehouse hubs, and harmonized essential medicines lists. Persistent barriers included sovereignty concerns, funding constraints, and limited regional coordination capacity.

CONCLUSIONS:
Pooled regional procurement and coordinated logistics systems represent viable strategies to improve access to essential medical products in Africa. Successful implementation requires strong governance, legal harmonization, robust financing, and multi-country collaboration. These findings provide important insights for policymakers, regional organizations, and development partners to strengthen African health systems and ensure equitable access to essential medicines and vaccines.