Bringing an immunization perspective to the Global Health Supply Chain Summit

by Modibo Dicko, WHO, and Motomoke Eomba, John Snow, Inc. In November 2012, more than one hundred logisticians and supply-chain experts from 29 countries met in Kigali, Rwanda, for the fifth annual Global Health Supply Chain Summit. The three-day summit provided a forum for participants to share supply-chain knowledge and learn from other logistics professionals working around the world. The summit was sponsored by the JSI Research & Training Institute and by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), through the USAID | DELIVER PROJECT. It was organized by the International Association of Public Health Logisticians (IAPHL) in collaboration with the University of Southern California and London Business School. The Summit featured two days of educational sessions on three key topics—understanding and managing risk in the supply chain, taking supply-chain innovations to scale, and benchmarking supply-chain performance. The third day was dedicated to “open-space technology” and discrete meetings including educational content and networking. What was perhaps most remarkable about the summit, at least for those few people coming from the immunization world, was how little focus there was on immunization. In the past, immunization was the only program with its own supply-chain system. Today, reproductive health, AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and other health programs are implementing their own supply systems within countries from the central to the peripheral level. In doing so, they are generating a wealth of experience that can be useful for immunization supply-chain managers. For example, these health programs have extensive experience working with central medical stores and with the private sector at both the national and international levels. Risk management is another area where immunization programs can learn from other health programs. Participants were extremely interested in the findings of project Optimize and other partners working on supply-chain innovation. Clearly, there are ample opportunities to do a better job in sharing knowledge and broadening the discussion among different health programs. These programs confront many of the same issues and have much to learn from each other. Further collaboration can help to reduce inefficiencies and unnecessary duplication of effort across supply chains and can result in more integrated, streamlined, and efficient supply chains for all health products. Like TechNet, the IAPHL manages an online discussion forum where members can pose logistics questions and receive answers from experts in supply-chain management. More than 1,600 logisticians from around the world have already joined, most from projects and institutions linked with programs and institutions funded by USAID or the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Online discussions on topics such as supportive supervision, vendor-managed inventory, and on procurement requisitions are each introduced, facilitated, summarized, and concluded by a moderator. TechNet members are encouraged to learn more about IAPHL and join their online discussion forum, just as IAPHL members are encouraged to participate in TechNet discussions.