Did you know AI can help transform proof-of-delivery in healthcare supply chains across Africa?
In Nigeria, AI agents are already processing invoices 8x times faster, detecting 8x more compliance issues, eliminating pilferage and reducing costs.
Recently, the Global Fund’s Scott Dubin and MEBS Global piloted an AI agent for Proof-of Delivery-delivery verification in Nigeria. The results challenged long-held assumptions about what’s possible in paper-based health supply chains.
The efficiency gains were striking:
- 87% reduction in manual review time (960 hours saved per cycle)
- Invoice-to-pay cycles dropped from 13 days to 3 days
- 10,452 valid compliance issues identified vs. 1,306 through manual review
- $55K–$95K projected in net annual savings after operating costs
But the impact went beyond speed.
Instead of sampling, through the AI enabled universal verification; every POD was checked against contracts, rate cards, and authorized receiver lists. Manual workflows simply can’t do this at scale, hence why the AI intervention was monumental.
It also surfaced issues that human reviewers consistently missed:
- Duplicate PODs
- Quantity mismatches across 25,000+ documents
- Unauthorized delivery patterns
- Vehicle registration inconsistencies
Why does this matter? Most healthcare supply chains across Africa still run paper-based operations. This pilot suggests AI agents can rapidly digitize unstructured data and generate insights without full system overhauls.
For governments managing outsourced distribution or operating their own logistics with limited resources, AI agents may offer a pathway to:
- Strengthen payment controls and reduce fraud risk,
- Scale oversight capacity without scaling headcount and
- build audit trails that support accountability.
Stay tuned – The Global Fund and MEBS Global have indicated that full results will be released later this year!
Read the case study on early results here!
