Supply Chain Management System
Content as presented by the Supply Chain Management System Project.
Field Advisory January 04, 2012: View the PEPFAR Field Advisory on Recall of Certain HIV Rapid Test Kits
Providing Quality Medicines for People Living with and Affected by HIV/AIDS
Funded by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and established in fiscal year 2005, the Supply Chain Management System (SCMS) project is helping host nations increase their capacity for delivering essential lifesaving HIV/AIDS medicines and supplies to people in need of treatment and care. Operating in some of the countries most severely impacted by HIV/AIDS, SCMS works in collaboration with host-country governments and local and global partners; procures essential medicines and supplies at affordable prices; helps strengthen and build reliable, secure and sustainable supply chains systems; and fosters coordination of key stakeholders.
Administered by USAID, the SCMS technical approach centers on:
- Working with and strengthening existing systems, not creating parallel or duplicate systems
- Building local capacity, empowering in-country partners to enhance and develop sustainable and appropriate responses for their own communities
- Delivering quality HIV/AIDS medicines and supplies at the best value by leveraging industry best practices for planning, procurement, storage, and distribution
- Promoting transparency to ensure accurate and timely supply chain information is collected, shared, and used to improve decisionmaking
- Collaborating with in-country and international partners to identify needs, fill gaps, avoid duplication, and share best practices
SCMS offers partners a rapid, regular, and reliable supply by storing forecasted quantities of the most frequently requested essential medicines, HIV test kits, and other products close to the point of use at regional distribution centers (RDCs) in Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa. The RDCs follow commercial best practices to ensure security and quality of the products as well as timely delivery.
By working closely with partners to plan future procurement, pooling orders to buy in bulk, establishing long-term contracts with manufacturers, and purchasing generic alternatives whenever possible, SCMS helps to reduce the price of essential medicines to treat HIV/AIDS.
With offices in 17 countries and more than 300 dedicated staff members around the world, SCMS brings together 16 private sector, nongovernmental, and faith-based organizations that are among the most trusted names in supply chain management and international public health and development.
SCMS Regional Distribution Centers (RDCs): Enabling a Rapid Response
|
![map of Africa](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20130228052454im_/http://transition.usaid.gov/our_work/global_health/aids/images/africa_map.gif) |
|
Map representing three state-of-the-art regional distribution centers in Africa that ensure
a rapid and reliable supply of frequently requested items. |
Health programs and the people they serve depend on getting the right medicines, in good condition, when they expect them. With state-of-the-art regional distribution centers operating in Ghana, Kenya and South Africa, the most frequently requested essential medicines including antiretrovirals, HIV test kits and other critical health products are closer to HIV/AIDS programs than ever before. This shortens delivery times from many months to between two and four weeks for planned orders. Programs can hold less stock on hand knowing they will receive more frequent replenishment based on their planned requirements.
As at November 2008, 60 percent of all deliveries (by value) were through RDCs. Ninety percent of all ARV deliveries (by value) in the same period were from an RDC (excluding Guyana, Haiti and Vietnam). The continuing success of the SCMS RDCs can be attributed to the design of the RDC logistics model, which is based on sound supply chain principles, accommodating the specific challenges of a large scale program such as PEPFAR. The RDCs are placed close enough to the target countries to allow flexibility and rapid response, yet also to leverage economies of scale across multiple countries. The RDCs were created without USAID capital expense and are accessed on a "pay-as-you-go" activity-based costing model, with SCMS only paying per actual pallets stored. In this way, the SCMS model has been designed to address the high-variance environment in which it operates, while minimizing costs. SCMS supports similar solutions for PEPFAR countries in the Americas and Asia.
Additional Resources
Related Links
|