National Public Health Institutes Improve Supply Chain Performance with IANPHI-Supported Workshops at Georgia Tech
The need for stronger supply chains came to light during the COVID-19 pandemic like never before. To address this need, IANPHI and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention partnered with the Center for Health and Humanitarian Systems (CHHS) at Georgia Tech, a top-ranked U.S. public research university based in Atlanta, to provide training on logistics and supply chain for staff from national public health institutes (NPHIs).
“Over the years we began to see a need for NPHIs to build their capacity to manage scarce resources, establish supply chain network structures, forecast, inventory management, planning, operations, and strategic decision-making,” said Ellen Whitney, director of the IANPHI U.S. Office. “Then in November 2020, we heard first-hand the expressed need for training in logistics from discussions with NPHI directors about their lessons learned from COVID-19.”
Through this partnership, a first cohort comprised of a dozen of staff members from African and Asian NPHIs was invited to participate in a series of three CHHS-led workshops held virtually in May 2021. An interdisciplinary research center, CHHS aims to transform health and humanitarian systems through a global commitment to education, outreach and innovative solutions, thanks to support from the UPS Foundation.
Over the years we began to see a need for NPHIs to build their capacity to manage scarce resources, establish supply chain network structures, forecast, inventory management, planning, operations, and strategic decision-making. Then in November 2020, we heard first-hand the expressed need for training in logistics from discussions with NPHI directors about their lessons learned from COVID-19.
The workshops focused on conceptual and modeling skills to understand and effectively manage supply chains and operations from a systems perspective covering health and humanitarian supply chain management and encompassing a range of topics such as designing and operating responsive supply chains, managing inventory and scare resources, planning, forecasting, and establishing network structures and strategic interactions. Each of the three workshops ran over four days and offered simultaneous interpretation to non-English speakers.
“Health and humanitarian systems are complex”, said CHHS Director Pinar Keskinocak, responsible for the workshops’ curriculum. “The decisions need to consider multiple stakeholders and perspectives, and carefully evaluate the broader consequences of actions. It is important to plan ahead, increase the strength, resiliency, and responsiveness of health systems, and mobilize the resources to best meet the needs, with the goal of improving the health and well-being of the population.”
“As an example, we have seen how the COVID-19 response has been hampered by numerous supply chain and logistics challenges ranging from ventilators, testing supplies, personal protective equipment, masks, and vaccines,” she added. “The challenges have been especially severe in the “last mile,” leading to inequities and higher negative impact on vulnerable populations. The [workshops] focus on achieving efficient and effective planning and operations of supply chains, with better coordination, taking a “systems” perspective.”
Participants were able to build a critical knowledge base and learn effective strategies for efficient and effective supply chain management. They worked on case studies and engaged with one another in the virtual setting.
“One of the case studies (an Excel-based interactive classroom game) is about allocating a limited set of resources for indoor residual spraying for malaria prevention, across multiple regions, over time, with a limited budget, to maximize the number of infections prevented”, said Pinar Keskinocak. “This complex case/game aligned very well with some of the decisions the participants face in their work, considering seasonality, demographic factors, disease prevalence, etc. along with many logistics decisions such as where to place “depots” and how to deploy trucks and crew for spraying operations.”
Since the workshops ended, participants have been able to apply their newly-acquired skills and improve their institutes’ supply chain performances.
“I was trained on tools used for stock management in uncertain times and for the dynamic product allocation,” said Bienvenu Thaddee Onana, logistics and supply chain manager at Cameroon’s Public Health Emergency Operations Center (PHEOC). “The workshops allowed me and my team to start using these tools for our own COVID-19 product management activities. We put criteria in place for the allocation of health products to diagnostic, treatment, prevention and infection control sites that are more objective and equitable. We also modeled a dynamic distribution of products combining the use of our own resources and the hiring of third-party logistics. These changes have enabled us to save on financial resources and reduce site delivery times. The first results show without a doubt that the training had an immediate impact on our PHEOC’s logistics performance progress.”
“These workshops have allowed me to learn models that improve supply plans in the context of public health emergencies”, said Paul Ouedraogo, logistics manager at Burkina Faso’s Ministry of Health, Health Emergency Response Operations. “I am now able to take into account the hazards or even the constraints of our decision-making. I intend to further implement what I have learned.”