Workshops

In health and humanitarian logistics, the use of technology for supply chain management has become essential for the effective management of products through the pipeline. Previously, software had limited functionality and was mostly used for data collection. Today, the options offer much more than mere data collection, with sophisticated stock management, ordering and notification systems that can be customized to the sector and context. However, as the options increase for health supply chain management software, projects and programs are finding it more and more difficult to keep up with the latest innovations and developments. Meeting the technology needs of your project and making sure the software can be effectively deployed is now more complicated than ever before.

This workshop provides participants the opportunity to learn from programs and companies working in the technology for SCM space and to watch live demonstrations of supply chain management software. Representatives from leading health and humanitarian software companies and non-governmental organizations who design, develop, and/or deploy SCM software will demonstrate how their software works, and provide examples of the added value the software brings to real projects. The purpose of each presentation is not to serve as a marketing opportunity, but rather an opportunity to share compelling examples of how their software is helping to strengthen supply chains and improve health outcomes by sharing recent examples from real projects.

This workshop will focus on the use of drones in routine health settings to provide regular delivery or cargo services for health commodities, lab samples, and other supplies.  A set of discussion topics will be presented, guided by subject matter experts that will lay out some key challenges that participants will explore in small working groups, to address a) barriers to adoption by countries, donors and NGOs and b) barriers to entry for new technology providers and private companies looking to provide services.  The discussions with address questions such as: What is the right enabling environment for testing UAS? What business models could attract companies to provide drone services? What value proposition would encourage Governments to adopt the technology? 

The workshop is facilitated by the Interagency Supply Group, which has a newly formed Coordination Group to address adoption of drone technology.  This group is supported financially by USAID, UNICEF, DFID, GFATM, GAVI and BMGF with support from partners at WFP, WEF, VillageReach, JSI, and PATH.

Reliable, resilient and sustainable health supply chains require strong supply chain leaders to serve as ‘stewards’ to provide vision, guidance, and oversight for the health supply chain, both in the public and private sector. These supply chain leaders embrace change and need to drive change for efficient, creative strategies to improve quality and performance focusing on delivering value for money, and ensuring safety and efficacy of products. Historically, there has been a lack of recognition of the importance of these leaders or “stewards’ in public health supply chain management, with this role often undervalued and overlooked. We will begin the workshop with a report out from the June 2018 IAPHL moderated discussion on this topic, then speakers will be asked to react to the findings and provide their unique views and insights, followed by an interactive discussion