LocationsConstruction Begins on the Kabwe Medical Stores Hub
Building A Resilient Health System, One Warehouse at a Time
July 8, 2026
The construction site where work begins on Zambia's newest medical stores hub in Kabwe — the latest in a UNDP and Global Fund programme that has built seven of the country's eight functional warehouses.
Photo by: Vanessa Wematu Akibate/UNDP Zambia
This week, construction begins on a new medical stores hub in Kabwe, a hub that will eventually serve more than two million people across Central Province. When complete, the 2,660m² facility will include cold chain storage, space for at least 5700 pallets, and a full suite of supporting infrastructure fitted with a drivers' room, general store, ablution blocks, hazardous materials storage, office blocks, and a waste management structure. The $4.1 million contract, financed by the Global Fund, marks the latest milestone in a programme that has shaped how medicines and health supplies move across Zambia.
Zambia currently has 8 functional medical stores warehouses nationally. Seven of these have been constructed by UNDP, working in partnership with the Zambia Medicines and Medical Supplies Agency (ZAMMSA) and the Ministry of Health, a powered by the Global Fund Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Once Kabwe is complete, UNDP and the Global Fund would have worked with the Government of Zambia to build eight of Zambia's nine hubs — a network that now reaches almost every corner of the country.
The District Health Director for Kabwe welcomed the start of works, "We have been waiting for this for two years, so to see construction getting underway gives this community great excitement.” He adds that “A six-month build is ambitious, but it tells you how seriously this is being taken. We are ready to work closely with UNDP and ZAMMSA to keep things moving."
Kabwe's groundbreaking comes as two other warehouses near completion. The Luanshya and Kabompo hubs are both set to launch by the end of July 2026, together serving more than four million Zambians across Copperbelt and North-Western Province.
The upgrades to the Luanshya facility marks a substantial expansion of existing infrastructure which includes an additional 4,000m² and 8,000 pallet spaces, built onto the existing 2,000m² and 1,716 pallet spaces already on site. The expanded facility will include a cold chain store, a mezzanine floor, and a 200kW solar energy system. Recognising that demand will continue to grow, the project’s partners are also upgrading the original Luanshya structure alongside the new addition.
The Kabwe, Luanshya, and Kabompo hubs build on a programme of medical storage infrastructure that UNDP has delivered with Global Fund financing across the country, including the Choma Medical Stores and facilities in Chipata, Mpika, and Mansa. In Lusaka, UNDP has also supported the rehabilitation and extension of the warehouse from 8000 to 32,000 pallet spaces including expanded dispatch and receiving sections, new office space, a customer care facility, and cold storage reaching as low as -24°C. The Lusaka central warehouse upgrade and expansion was financed by the European Union, Global Fund, World Bank and the US Government.
Together, these investments form a connected national supply chain where storage and distribution infrastructure designed to get medicines and health products to the people who need them, work reliably and at scale.
Construction on the Kabwe hub is expected to conclude in December, with works at Luanshya continuing for a further year as the wider site upgrade progresses. As each facility comes online, the network moves closer to covering the full country, bringing Zambia's national medical supply chain a step closer to completion.
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