The African Institute for Health and Development collaborated with the Ministry of Health, MERCK and Genesis Analytics to organize the Supply chain stakeholders meeting that provided a platform where notes were compared, citing challenges, gaps, and successes. This was achieved through analyzing the MERCK monitoring and evaluation supply chain framework, filled by Kenya and the neighbouring countries, and implementing digitization of the supply chain systems.
Effective supply chain management is key in achieving control and elimination of NTDs by ensuring that drugs and diagnostic materials make it from the point of manufacture to the people who need them. Few public health initiatives have been developed with more attention to the “first mile” of the supply chain than integrated NTD control. However, the “last mile” of supply chain (drug distribution within country programs) remains relatively neglected as donors and partners have focused on expanding the supply available to country programs.
NTD Deliver is designed to centralize and coordinate data from WHO, shipping providers, pharmaceutical companies donating medicines, implementing partners, and others to better monitor the supply chain for donated commodities. Through NTD Deliver, programmes can easily track their medicine requests to WHO website. NTD Deliver is cloud- based and can be accessed from anywhere, at any time and from any device. Currently it caters to preventive chemotherapy diseases (onchocerciasis, lymphatic filariasis, schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminthiases, and trachoma) only and is planning to expand to key case
management diseases.
The workshop activities included the presentation of the existing MERCK supply chain M&E framework filled in 2022 by Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Tanzania. The groups then identified challenges and gaps as addressed in the framework. Presentations were made of current supply chain practices with PC NTDs while identifying current supply chain issues.
Further discussions involved confirmation of the Supply chain needs for each programme focal area, cross sharing of best practices from neighbouring countries and securing of endorsements.