People Centered Supply Chains

People become ill, have suboptimal health outcomes or die because health services and supply chains are not designed to be responsive to their needs, challenges, or desires. When services and supply chains are not optimized for performance or efficiency, or are not agile and resilient enough during times of crisis, communities experience poor quality, high prices, delays, or lack of access to products and services.

To meet the SDGs, future supply chains must be predictive rather than reactive and capable of responding to the needs of people, wherever they are. This intelligence must be driven by appropriate data, supported by agile processes, and executed by a professionalized workforce.

 

The Strategic Resource Management Tool (SMArT), is a very practical and easy-to-use tool that will accurately help us use the allocated resource using our Quantification data for decision-making. There is also limited resource allocation for HPTs in the County, and the decision on sharing this resource to the facility level needs to be anchored on documented, predictable consumption data to ensure equitable sharing and also maximize utilisation while enhancing transparency to the lowest level. The SRMT covers all these aspects while allowing room for adjustments as necessary.

Dr. Norah Maore

County Pharmacist, Nairobi County

Forecasting & Supply Planning (Quantification)

inSupply Health brings best-in-class practice to forecasting and supply planning (Quantification) of health commodities. We help organizations plan for and develop forecasts using robust methods and tools, and provide staff training. inSupply’s process factors in data limitations as well as potential risks and future scenarios. Our outputs lend themselves to routine supply planning, refreshing of data and assumptions, advocacy for funding or procurement needs and gaps, and the training ensures users are focused on actions to enable effective inventory management and consistent supplies of commodities.

Forecasting and Supply Planning Use case

Turkana County Forecasting and Quantification Report


Nigeria: DMPA-SC Quantification Report


Nandi County Reproductive Health Quantification Documentation for 2017-2020


Supply Chain System Assessment & Optimization

inSupply Health adopts and customizes globally accepted tools such as LSAT and LIAT to conduct supply chain assessments in different geographies, identifying supply chain bottlenecks and developing recommendations for system optimization as per the client’s needs. Recently, inSupply has led supply chain assessments in Nigeria, Uganda, Zambia, Mozambique, and Malawi in collaboration with the respective governments and Ministries of Health.

Supply Chain System Assessment & Optimization Use Cases

Maturity Model Training Report


Maturity Model Training and assessment: Mombasa County


Supply Chain Considerations for New Product Introduction

Providing technical expertise and guidance on quantification, inventory strategy, LMIS, dispensing, and training. Development of costed implementation and scale-up plans for newly introduced products.

Supply Chain Capacity Building

The main goal is to equip health workers with knowledge, skills, and resources related to the supply chain. Through the support of USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc. in partnership with inSupply Health Ltd. have been facilitating physical training to build the capacity of organizations working in Humanitarian and Disaster Settings.
The program focused on improving pharmaceutical and medical commodity management by equipping staff from the BHA funded organizations with supply chain skills necessary to improve supply chain practices in their humanitarian crisis response efforts.
The annual training has had two series in Nairobi, Kenya and one series in Amman, Jordan reaching over 76 staff from more than 33 organizations across the globe. A total of 29, 25, and 22 participants in the respective years between 2021 and 2023

inSupply Health continues to leverage different platforms to promote supply chain best practices. This includes IAPHL. Promoting supply chain management and participating in the discussion with the community of logisticians. One such discussion held recently, focused on spotlight forecasting tools, including AI-powered innovations that are transforming how we plan and manage public health commodities. These kind of discussions provide opportunities for knowledge and experience sharing through:

  • Panel discussion on challenges and pain points in supply chain practices
  • Expert responses and insights
  • Demo of innovations and supply chain intervention
  • Q&A and live poll

Supply Chain Capacity Building for NTD

inSupply Health in collaboration with JSI has been supporting the strengthening of skills of health care workers involved in the supply chain for Preventive Chemotherapy for Neglected Tropical Diseases (PC-NTDs) across seven countries in East, Central, and West Africa. Through the The Supply Chain Technical Support Mechanism for NTD medicines project comprehensive Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) have been developed and implemented covering essential functions such as Mass Drug Administration (MDA) reporting and last-mile handling of NTD medications. An NTD-specific supply chain curriculum is also under development to standardize and elevate training across countries.

Logistics System Implementation & Design

inSupply Health provides technical assistance through consultancies with governments and other institutions to develop logistic system design considerations for setting up logistics systems for health programs, ensuring efficient, agile, and responsive supply chains. We use our design thinking approach to co-create and deploy systems and tools tailored to the context and users, which are practical and can be implemented with minimal training. Our implementation approach promotes ownership, scale, and sustainability.

Forecasting & Quantification Use Cases

VIMS design and Implementation


Digitization of MDA Data collection tool & integration in DHIS-2

inSupply provided technical support in the digitization of Mass Drug Administration (MDA) service and supply chain data as is a crucial initiative aimed at creating a data-driven, people-centered public health supply chain. By migrating traditionally manual MDA data collection into a digital format and integrating it into the national DHIS2 platform, the system gains real-time visibility into both treatment coverage (service delivery) and commodity availability (supply chain). This integration allows decision-makers to rapidly triangulate data, identify discrepancies, and make timely interventions to ensure drugs are available where they are needed and that campaign coverage targets are met, thereby improving the efficiency and effectiveness of large-scale disease elimination efforts.

Track & Trace

Providing technical expertise for the systematic process of monitoring and recording the movement of products through the supply chain to follow and document the journey of items from production to distribution, enhancing visibility.

Procurement

Offering cutting-edge solutions to streamline procurement processes and support the monitoring of key procurement indicators.

Pipeline Monitoring & Supply Chain Visibility

inSupply offers solutions for supply chain analytics to support end-to-end visibility of the supply chain, guiding data-driven decision-making. This also includes pipeline monitoring, providing visibility to shipment updates that are valid and reliable.

cStock

cStock is a supply chain strengthening approach that combines simple resupply procedures with mobile technology, user-centered dashboards, and Information Mobilized for Performance Analysis and Continuous Transformation (IMPACT) teams.

cStock connects community health volunteers (CHVs) to facilities and promotes demand-based resupply, ensuring greater product availability in communities. Using cStock’s real-time supply chain data, CHV supervisors, facility staff, and sub-county and county managers can better manage inventory and demand planning. Adapted in partnership with the Kenyan Ministry of Health’s Community Health Division Unit, cStock was built within DHIS2 and integrated with Kenya’s Health Information System to facilitate scale and sustainability.

 

 

The good things I have seen while dealing with cStock is that it gives
me an easy time when I receive the commodities….I don’t just walk anytime
into the facility. When I am in my house but I don’t have [to go] to the facility.
I simply request via the phone and I will be notified when stocks are
available to go and collect rather than walking physically to the facility to
inquire about the drugs. Sometimes, the CHA might have gone to a certain
meeting so this saves me time.

Community Health Volunteer

Kenya

System Design & Implementation

inSupply Health combines JSI’s proven system design methodology with our design-thinking approach to co-create and deploy systems and tools adapted to context and users and that can be implemented with minimal training. inSupply has helped build digital workforce skills for more than 1,000 health care workers who use supply chain information systems in Kenya and Tanzania.

System Design & Implementation Use Cases

Piloting cStock in Siaya County: Endline Evaluation Report


Making Data Useful: The VIMS Story in Tanzania


Maturity Assessment & Strategy

At inSupply Health, we make sure that we fully understanding a problem before proposing solutions. We assess systems using a variety of tools such as the Supply Chain Compass and ASCM’s Maturity Model tool, both of which identify weak links in the supply chain. We use design thinking to co-create affordable, feasible, and practical strategies for supply chain improvement, with a focus on data use and continuous quality improvement.

Maturity Assessment & Strategy Use Cases

Maturity Model Training Report


Maturity Model Training and assessment: Mombasa County