Managing essential health commodity supply chains alongside COVID-19 vaccine supply chains requires coordination between regulatory authorities and central stores, which is crucial for efficient last mile delivery.
Essentially, efficient last mile logistics of health commodities involves the engagement and collaboration of critical stakeholders at the Ministry of Health. Achieving mutual agreement over the application of best medical supply chain practices is necessary to enable safe and effective delivery of quantified essential commodities and improve their availability.
To achieve this objective, HELP Logistics is working with VillageReach to provide public health logisticians in Malawi with the skills and competencies needed to ensure the consistent availability of health commodities at service delivery points.
Using a pragmatic approach, a cohort of health logisticians from different departments and agencies within the Ministry of Health in Malawi received the Pharma and Health Supply Chain Management (PSM) training.
The 5-day training program covered fundamental supply chain concepts for the smooth running of medical supply chains, including critical topics on stakeholder management, best supply chain practices and DMAIC methodology for continuous improvement of medical supply chains.
Ultimately, sustaining supply chain improvements requires technical and managerial leadership. Organizations and departments must collaborate by sharing information and drawing on individual strengths to develop, test and deploy solutions necessary for last mile strengthening. HELP Logistics is continuously on the lookout for opportunities for knowledge exchange, capacity building and partnerships for social impact.