By HealthTimes Reporter
CMCOMMS, a regional leader in health supply chain management, has won the Outstanding Achievement Award in Humanitarian & Health Supply Chain Management at the 2025 Africa Supply Chain Excellence Awards (ASCEA). The accolade recognises the organisation’s leadership and innovation in promoting Good Storage and Distribution Practices (GSDP) as a safeguard against substandard and falsified medical products (SFMPs) across Africa.
The prestigious awards, guided by the principle “By the Industry, For the Industry”, celebrate organisations that demonstrate sustainable, world-class practices in supply chain management. This year’s competition attracted 69 entries from across the continent, with winners selected by an independent panel of experts. The gala ceremony was held on 7 August 2025 at Montecasino in Johannesburg, bringing together Africa’s top supply chain leaders and policymakers.
For CMCOMMS, the award is more than a trophy — it is a renewed mandate. This recognition is not just about what we have achieved, but about what lies ahead,” said Wilson Chandomba, CMCOMMS Managing Consultant, and a Certified Supply Chain Leader (CSCL). “We see it as a call to intensify our efforts to keep falsified and substandard medicines out of African health systems. Lives depend on it.”
The award comes shortly after Chandomba’s appointment in July 2025 to the Africa Continental Technical Working Group on SFMPs, where he serves as Chairperson of its Communications Sub-Group. This position, he said, strengthens CMCOMMS’ ability to influence continental policy, build multi-stakeholder collaboration, and keep quality assurance central to Africa’s public health agenda.
Substandard and falsified medical products are a growing threat to health systems across the continent, undermining trust and putting lives at risk. CMCOMMS’ award-winning work focuses on embedding GSDP into every stage of the medical supply chain — from manufacturer to last mile — to protect the integrity of medicines.
Through the CMCOMMS Medical Logistics Practitioner Programme, the organisation has trained more than 1,000 supply chain actors across Africa, including logistics providers, customs officers, freight forwarders, truck drivers, and pharmaceutical wholesalers. The programme is accredited by the Pharmacists Council of Zimbabwe (PCZ), The CPD Group UK, and the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP), and is recognised by the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe (MCAZ).
In addition to training, CMCOMMS has worked to build readiness at seaports, airports, and land borders to ensure that health products are handled correctly and that SFMPs are blocked from entering markets. The organisation has also developed systems to verify that medicines reach communities in safe, effective condition, reinforcing the principle that supply chain quality assurance is a frontline defence for public health.
Chandomba credited the achievement to the dedication of the CMCOMMS team, partners, regulators, and trainees. The MCAZ, a WHO Maturity Level 3 Regulatory Authority and Centre of Regulatory Excellence, congratulated CMCOMMS, noting that the organisation’s “commitment to supply chain integrity… directly and indirectly translates to better access to quality healthcare for all Africans.”
