The Zambian startup Duniya Healthcare, which is transforming pharmaceutical logistics, has won the global award in the Health and Wellbeing category at the prestigious World Summit Awards (WSA), which took place from April 6–9, 2025, in Hyderabad, India.
About World Summit Awards (WSA)
Within the United Nations context, the World Summit Awards are an international program that honours digital innovations that significantly contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The WSA was founded in 2003 during the UN World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva.
It promotes the use of ICT (information and communication technologies) to close the digital gap and enhance people’s lives worldwide.
How Duniya Healthcare emerges winner
Duniya Healthcare defeated formidable competitors from Australia, South Korea, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam to win the 2025 WSA Global Champion in Health and Wellbeing title.
National experts from 182 UN Member States nominate their nation’s most significant digital innovations as part of the stringent, multi-stage WSA selection process.
The top projects are sent to a grand jury of 22 international experts after being evaluated by a worldwide online jury of 160 professionals. At the WSA Global Congress, 40 winners from various categories are chosen to compete for the Global Champion titles.
Duniya Healthcare: first African startup to win Global Champion Award
This is the first Zambian innovation to make it into the WSA Global Top 40 and the first to win the title of Global Champion in its category in WSA’s 20-year history.
More importantly, Duniya is the first African startup to win a Global Champion Award at this year’s competition.
“We are incredibly honoured by this recognition and proud to showcase Zambian innovation on the global stage,” said Mwansa Chalo, Founder and CEO of Duniya Healthcare. “Our mission has always been clear—no African should die due to lack of access to essential medicines. This award affirms the work our team has put into transforming pharmaceutical supply chains across the continent.”
About Duniya Healthcare
Duniya Healthcare is a tech-enabled marketplace that connects pharmaceutical suppliers and wholesalers with medical facilities and retail pharmacies.
The business and the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB) and the Africa Health and Economic Transformation Institute (AHETI) inked a historic deal in 2024 to digitise procurement and expedite the distribution of medications to mission hospitals in rural Zambia. Regarding medications and logistics, this collaboration has already saved participating healthcare providers more than 37%.
With this worldwide triumph, Duniya Healthcare has solidified Zambia’s position on the innovation map and demonstrated that African-led solutions can compete and succeed globally.