InSupply: Innovations for Public Health Supply Chains

inSupply is an umbrella project incorporating seven supply chain components, which collectively aim to improve the performance and efficiency of contraceptive, vaccine, and essential medicine supply chain systems. The seven components are linked by a number of cross-cutting themes, namely increasing data visibility and the use of data to drive strategic and operational supply chain decision making, demonstrating the feasibility of innovative solutions for the last mile, and strengthening local and regional supply chain capacity.

Under these objectives, inSupply’s activities include:

• Partnership with the East African Community Regional Center for Excellence in Health Supply Chain Management at the University of Rwanda’s School of Public Health to develop and mentor faculty to provide short courses and assist in developing curriculum for a master’s degree course in supply chain management.
• Working with new and existing partners to establish a clear vision and broad ownership and support for the International Association of Public Health Logisticians (IAPHL) as the leading professional association of its kind, and ensure sustainability of funding for the medium term.
• Expanding the pool and resources for quality, affordable supply chain consultancy services that brings expertise in adapting private sector solutions for public health supply chains through context-specific design and local and regional support in East Africa.
• Implementing a people-centric and data-driven approach to empower and strengthen supply chain leaders. Developing and rolling out a Vaccine Information Management System (VIMS) module in Tanzania to track vaccine and immunization commodities, cold chain assets, and routine immunization data at all levels of the system.
• Improving logistics data availability for contraceptive implant supply chains through analytical frameworks and models and quantification technical assistance.
• Exploring the feasibility of a Visibility and Analytics Network (VAN) in Kenya to improve end-to-end supply chain data visibility, provide analytical tools, and promote processes for continuous system improvement.

inSupply was launched with a two-year grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with a regional focus in East Africa, primarily in Tanzania and Kenya, with the goal of replicability across the continent and beyond.