In any country in the world, a functioning medical supply chain is critical for the health of its citizens, ensuring the availability of essential medicines, medical supplies, and equipment required to prevent, treat, and manage diseases and conditions.

When there’s a break in that supply chain, it affects everyone, from patients to healthcare workers to the health system as a whole, leaving clinics without supplies or with expired goods, and people without the medicines they need.

In Côte d'Ivoire, this supply chain is largely managed by NPSP, the national pharmaceutical procurement agency responsible for the supply and distribution of medicines and pharmaceutical products to public and para-public health facilities. Like many public sector agencies in emerging economies, NPSP faces a wide range of cascading and interlinked challenges that often results in a disconnect between supply and demand for life saving medicines.

For instance, the quality of data available in national health information systems is often poor, which means that decision makers cannot accurately predict patient needs. When poor data is combined with antiquated technology platforms, it makes it extremely hard to manage national inventory and effectively plan for product distribution. With too much supply, storage constraints arise, and conversely, with not enough, healthcare providers are left empty handed without sufficient inventory for their patients.

To address these challenges, the Global Fund has enlisted Palladium to lead its new activity in Côte d'Ivoire to strengthen inventory management operations and optimise distribution routes from the NPSP to clients.

“The pandemic reminded us that strong health ecosystems are focused on understanding and anticipating patient demand; they have a disciplined and scientific basis for how much inventory should be in the system at any point in time, and a proactive plan for the downstream movement of products down from port to patient,” explains Dan Rhodes, Palladium Vice President of Supply Chain Management. “Our role will be to work closely with the NPSP, identify what is working and what is not, introduce global best practices, and develop a 12-month roadmap for improving their supply chain management systems.”

Global Fund, which is focused on accelerating the end of AIDS, Tuberculosis, and malaria as epidemics, works closely with government, ministries of health, and the private sector. While Côte d'Ivoire is making strides in reducing AIDS-related deaths and the incidence of new HIV cases, this work can only be sustained and accelerated with an efficient health system supply chain.

“Palladium has a long history delivering data solutions, capacity development, policy, financing, and health systems strengthening in close collaboration with government and civil society partners in francophone West Africa,” adds Rhodes. “This collaboration with the Global Fund and the National Pharmaceutical Procurement Agency in Cote d'Ivoire builds on decades of partnership to improve health outcomes for the men, women, and children of communities threatened by HIV, TB, and malaria.”

For more, contact info@thepalladiumgroup.com.