Opian's ForLab+ Reaches 5,100-Facility National Deployment Across Ethiopia

ForLab+, Opian's supply chain decision system, is now live across all 5,100 health facilities connected through Ethiopia's regional health bureaus and woreda networks. The platform serves approximately 7,000 active users — including planners, pharmacists, and supply chain officers — conducting quarterly supply planning cycles with real-time demand forecasting and procurement intelligence.

National Deployment Milestone

This marks the completion of Ethiopia's national rollout, initiated by the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Every region now has access to ForLab+'s core workflow: sensing facility demand, forecasting quarterly pharmaceutical and supply needs, and planning procurement across the ministry's supply chain.

"The scale of this deployment is unprecedented for a health supply chain system in Africa," said Zelalem Bekele, CEO and founder of Opian. "Five thousand facilities means five thousand different contexts, and the real test is whether the system becomes smarter through actual use."

What Works at National Scale

Twelve quarterly planning cycles have revealed consistent patterns:

- **Data quality improves with use.** Facilities that engage regularly with ForLab+ provide more accurate consumption data. The system flags anomalies in real time, allowing planners to verify numbers during the planning window rather than after procurement. - **Forecasting adapts to regional variation.** Ethiopian health facilities operate under very different population densities, patient loads, and disease burdens. ForLab+ learns region-specific patterns and adjusts baseline forecasts accordingly. - **Planning velocity increases.** Previously, quarterly supply planning required manual reconciliation of facility reports, email exchanges, and spreadsheet aggregation. With ForLab+, national-level planners complete the planning cycle 40% faster while improving forecast accuracy.

Integration with Government Operations

The Ethiopian Pharmaceutical Supply Service (EPSS) now uses ForLab+ forecasts to inform tender planning, warehouse-to-facility distribution, and inventory optimization. The system operates within Ethiopia's existing supply chain governance and does not require parallel workflows or additional reporting burden on facilities.

"This is not an external system imposed on the health system; it's an extension of the ministry's own planning process," said Dr. Assefa Teklemariam, Federal Ministry of Health. "ForLab+ allows us to make better decisions with the data our own facilities are already generating."

Technical Infrastructure

ForLab+ operates on on-premise infrastructure in Ethiopia, with all facility data remaining in-country. The platform integrates with DHIS2 — the canonical health information system across Ethiopia's network — to ingest facility-level data in real time. The architecture is designed for national scalability without cross-border data transfer or cloud dependency.

Looking Ahead

Opian is now exploring geographic expansion across Sub-Saharan Africa. Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, and Mozambique are Phase 1 markets for the coming 18 months. Global Fund and World Bank partnerships are under discussion to support TB/HIV supply chains and regional health system strengthening.

"What we learned in Ethiopia proves that this model works," Bekele added. "A country-specific, ministry-led system that improves with scale. We're now scaling the playbook to neighboring countries."

About Opian

Opian builds decision systems for health supply chains and clinical care, helping governments and health facilities make faster, better-informed decisions. The company is headquartered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and operates with primary funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. ForLab+ is deployed across Ethiopia; Link, Opian's integrated clinical decision system, is in testing at pilot hospitals in Addis Ababa and Oromia.

Media contact: press@opian.io