Logistics

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Man at conveyor belt
Man at conveyor belt
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Photo Credit: USAID Zambia
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Dedicated warehousing, transportation, waste management, and IT professionals work to achieve the USAID Global Health Supply Chain Program-Procurement and Supply Management (GHSC-PSM) project's mission of providing an uninterrupted supply of the highest quality health commodities delivered on time for an efficient cost. Our global health supply chain uses a fourth party logistics (4PL) model to ensure access to a broader base of potential logistics providers, increased market transparency, reduced procurement costs and order cycle times, and greater backend integration and electronic data interchange.

Our teams secure:
 

  • end-to-end optimization and data visibility with the right combination of suppliers and partners to secure access and competition;
  • the right mix of regional distribution center locations for minimizing transportation costs; and
  • reduced negative environmental impacts by improving health care waste management
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Country Logistics
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At the country level, we devise tailored approaches to improve supply chain logistics for each country, including segmenting our distribution strategy by end-user needs. Our teams’ expertise includes distribution/transportation, warehousing/inventory, management information systems, and waste management specialists, who work closely with ministries of health and other government officials to think through warehouse network and distribution route optimization, outsourcing or public-private partnerships, vendor-managed inventory, mobile applications, turnkey modular facilities, and other opportunities to raise the bar for strengthening supply chains.

The vision is to improve each country’s ability to provide last-mile services while identifying areas for strengthening governance, frameworks, and financing systems for logistics.

The use of unmanned aerial vehicle delivery and low-cost technologies like GPS trackers and mobile applications to create a supply chain control tower are some of the innovations we’re exploring to help our partner countries stay on the leading edge of supply chain logistics. 

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Regional Distribution Center Network Optimization
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GHSC-PSM inherited a supply chain system with five regional warehouses servicing a limited set of health commodities. In 2016, the project completed a thorough modeling exercise to determine the optimal placement of our regional distribution centers. Using historic data of  shipments from previous projects,  the modeling exercise generated demand scenarios through 2020 for 19 product groups with high demand, high value, and long production lead time.

The optimization exercise strategically placed three regional warehouses for all health commodities procured by the project.

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Automated Requisition Tracking Management Information System
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The project’s electronic data exchange occurs through the Automated Requisition Tracking Management Information System (ARTMIS), which allows for:

 

  • central management of sourcing events;
  • real-time, per-transaction stock monitoring;
  • efficient, automated distribution and replenishment orders; and
  • regular assigned alerts on shipment statuses. 

 

ARTMIS also provides the opportunity to analyze data regularly for continuous improvements and more transparency on key performance indicators.

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Global Standard (GS1) Barcodes
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Integrating GS1 barcodes into our systems is a key goal for GHSC-PSM. These barcodes will enable tracking and tracing commodities across the supplier base and through country logistics management information systems.

News & Highlights

Success Stories
May 2, 2023
Sierra Leone’s health supply chain has been operating its logistics management of health commodities using the 2010 version of SOP Manual Logistics Management of Health Commodities. The Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS) has adopted different structures, technologies, and tools to improve the…
Success Stories
April 6, 2023
Reaching the third 95 – viral load suppression of people living with HIV – can only be achieved by expanding viral load testing to improve treatment efficacy. In El Salvador, the Ministry of Health is reducing testing and waiting times for people living with HIV.     Through USAID and…
News Article
April 3, 2023
Immediately following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in March 2022, the USAID Global Health Supply Chain Program-Procurement and Supply (GHSC-PSM) project responded to an urgent request for antiretrovirals (ARVs) from the Government of Ukraine to PEPFAR. More than 200,000 90-tablet bottles…

Success Stories

May 2, 2023
Sierra Leone’s health supply chain has been operating its logistics management of health commodities using the 2010 version of SOP Manual Logistics Management of Health Commodities. The Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS) has adopted different structures, technologies, and tools to improve the…
April 6, 2023
Reaching the third 95 – viral load suppression of people living with HIV – can only be achieved by expanding viral load testing to improve treatment efficacy. In El Salvador, the Ministry of Health is reducing testing and waiting times for people living with HIV.     Through USAID and…
March 16, 2023
Accurately forecasting demand for lifesaving antiretroviral (ARV) medicine each year is an important starting point for making sure it gets into the hands of people living with HIV, reducing their viral load (the amount of HIV in a blood sample) and enabling a long and healthy life. This was a…