Global Health
Supply Chain Management
Strong supply chains transform public health. Supply chain is one of the key interdependent systems that together make an integrated health system. The supply chain is focused on delivering medicines and other supplies that enable the health worker to meet a patient’s health needs. By ensuring the efficient and effective delivery of medicines and commodities supply chains support healthy populations.
Captiva Africa LLC’s supply chain professionals have in-depth understanding of the critical supply chain considerations in health systems programming. We apply commercial-sector best practices to support clients in the following areas of public health supply chain:
- Capacity building
- Supply chain assessment in particular network, cost, and performance
- Forecasting and supply chain planning
- Supply chain equipment optimization
- Data analysis and use of data for decision making
As supply chain makes up 25% of the pharmaceutical costs, investments to strengthen their efficiency and effectiveness should be explored. Captiva Africa LLC helps clients conduct assessments of public health supply chain management capacities and identify priority areas for investments to make them more robust.
From our recent engagements, priority areas for supply chain investments have invariably included the following:
- Optimizing critical supply chain equipment at both national and sub-national levels
- Building the competence of supply chain professionals
- Improving supply chain oversight, coordination and trouble shooting
- Streamlining procurement processes and implementing strategic purchasing
- Strengthening information management systems
Captiva Africa LLC helps clients conduct assessments of public health supply chain management capacities and identify priority areas for investments.
Capacity Building: Competence of Supply Chain Professionals
Efficient and effective supply chains require trained and competent staff to execute operations and meet public health demands. Some of the more frequent skill gaps we come across in our engagements across Africa in supply chain management include financial management, clearing and forwarding, price negotiations, contract management and monitoring, product forecasting, inventory management and analysis, and distribution planning.
Adequacy of skilled and competent staff is mission critical in public health supply chain management.
Countries should therefore invest in training and professionalization of supply chain staff at both national and sub-national levels. In this regard Captiva Africa LLC assists clients in conducting human resource capacity assessments for public health supply chains- in particular staffing needs as well as skill gaps and designing appropriate human resource development programs.
Improving Supply Chain Oversight, Coordination and Trouble Shooting
Captiva Africa LLC works with clients to optimize the organization structures of their public health supply chains. In this regard, countries have to consider and coordinate many elements in implementing the various phases of supply chain. In some countries, we have noted that dedicated logistics units have been set up within the Ministries of Health to better organize, monitor and manage all aspects of supply chain for public health commodities. Their responsibilities comprise amongst other things product quantifications and forecasts, managing supply chain data and coordinating supply chain decision making. Whatever the oversight set up and circumstances, all supply chains require investments in planning, management and coordination structures.