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A Real Time Drug Dispensing

and Stock Tracking System

AltVerse Team:

Almgdad Ibrahim
Bongokuphiwe Mkhonta
Patience Kyomukama
Tendai Juro
Joshua Odubu
Sangwani Mseketa Phiri

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Frequent stock-outs of essential medicines in Uganda’s public health facilities deprive millions of lifesaving drugs due to poor coordination and outdated inventory systems.

Without timely access to drugs like oxytocin, antibiotics, and antimalarials, preventable deaths rise, undermining national gains in maternal and child health, fuelling poverty and economic loss estimated at 5.6% of GDP annually.

Background

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Who We’re Helping

In Uganda, a significant portion of the population is affected by frequent stockouts in healthcare facilities, with studies indicating that between 32% and 50% of public health units experience the unavailability of essential medicines, impacting patient care and potentially leading to preventable illnesses and deaths.

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Meet Musa Katende, a 32‑year‑old father from Mukono District. He brought his 3‑month‑old baby burning with fever to their nearest public clinic, hoping for help but was told there was no antimalarial or antibiotics in stock.

This impacts Musa deeply;

Financial strain & stress
Health risk
Trust erodes

By putting a human face on the crisis, Musa shows why a real‑time digital inventory system is so urgent: to spare families like his the emotional, financial, and health toll of failing medicine availability.

The Human Cost: Musa’s Story

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The Data Behind the Crisis

Roughly 33% of essential medicines are unavailable at local health facilities. As depicted in figure 1, malaria diagnosis and treatment commodity stock outs increased over the years from 2017-2022.

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The Data Behind the Crisis

All commodities availability in Uganda was below the target of 90 percent availability between 2019/20 to 2023/24 Financial Year.

For example, EMHS dropped from 82 percent in 2019/20FY to 47 percent in 2022/23FY, with a slight recovery to 58 percent in

2023/24FY.

ARVs experienced the largest availability decline from a low of 70 percent in 2019/20FY, a slight peak at 81 percent in 2021/22FY, followed by a sharp fall to 43 percent in 2023/ 24FY.

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A Real-Time Digital Drug Dispensing & Stock Tracking System

System Overview :

Deploy a fully integrated, mobile- and web‑based digital inventory system that tracks drug dispensing and stock levels in near real time across all public health facilities from community clinics to national warehouses.

Why it is feasible?

Interoperability with Existing Systems: Integrates seamlessly with eELMIS, RxSolution, NMS+ ERP, DHIS2, and community-level reporting (eCHIS), aligning with government digital health strategy
Low-Cost, Resilient Infrastructure: Solar-powered micro-servers, offline-first mobile apps, and low-data cloud sync ensures functionality in low-connectivity rural areas

Our Solution: Real-Time Drug Tracking

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User Journey: Register

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User Journey: Login

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User Journey: Reset Password

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User Journey: Home Page

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User Journey: Dispense Medication

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User Journey: Admin. Dashboard

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User Journey: Manage Inventory

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User Journey: Generate Reports

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What Users Told Us

The wireframes need more graphics.
The wireframe needs more color enhancement on the stock status page.

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We will add colours to the wireframe. A red colour to indicate out of stock, orange for low stock and green for in stock.

Improving the Design

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Our Pilot Roadmap

01. Prototype

02 Pilot the system

03 Gather feedback & improve

Develop a functional, clickable prototype or early working model.

Pilot the system in 2-4 Public Health facilities in Uganda..
Provide training for nurses, in-charges, and facility staff on how to use the system

Monitor how the staff interacts with the product.
Gather data on ease of use, and time taken to report or request stock
Refine features based on feedback. .

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Why This Solution Matters

Without timely access to drugs like oxytocin, antibiotics, and antimalarials, preventable deaths rise, undermining national gains in maternal and child health fueling poverty and economic loss estimated at 5.6% of GDP annually.

Why the problem matters:

The system could significantly reduce medicine stock-outs in Uganda’s public health facilities by providing real-time visibility into drug availability. This will enable faster restocking, automating alerts, and improving coordination between health centers and the National Medical Stores, ensuring that essential medicines are always available.

Impact We Aim to Achieve