Supply chain & logistics
All topics related to immunization supply chain and logistics, including vaccine forecasting and supply planning, distribution systems, vaccine management, vaccine wastage, and waste management.
Posts
For your reading pleasure (and viewing since there is a 1 minute video)...
Dear
I like to share with you in this space a video about the instalation, basic maintenance and operation of one of the solar equipments with PQS that are installed in my country (Colombia), nowadays we have 300 equipments in operation.
Best regards
...
Dear friends, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is very pleased to present the Cold Chain Equipment ‘Technology Guide’, to support the appropriate selection of modern, efficient and reliable technologies. Download the guide here.
Identifying the most appropriate equipment choices for each health facility ...
Most ice-lined refrigerators in India are fully functional at 5 - 45 degrees Celsius (ie, they are able to maintain an internal temperature of 2-8 degrees Celsius when the external temperatures are between 5 and 45 degrees Celsius). Some states of India have an extremely cold climate during winters ...
The WHO UNICEF immunization Supply Chain Hub (iSC Hub)has released a new temperature monitoring website hosted on TechNet-21.
A stringent system for temperature surveillance is essential to maintain the quality of the vaccines in an effective Supply Chain. By preventing vaccine exposure to freezing...
Interesting study from Turkey aimed at providing an approach to determine the best temperature monitoring system for vaccine storage in a warehouse.
AbstractCold chain management is a specific part of supply chain management. Cold chain managementdeal with products that should be transported and st...
Sharing the news of an article publish in Vaccine on the impact of system design in Niger.
Abstract
Objective
To evaluate the potential impact and value of applications (e.g. ordering levels, storage capacity, transportation capacity, distribution frequency) of data from demand forecasting syst...
Following the success of the first training session in December, 2015 on the use of the MULTiLOG2 Remonsys Ltd is planning to run a second training session in August this year.
Purpose and Objectives of the Course
The objective of this course is to equip delegates with the ability to install, conf...
Hello everyone,
We will in a few days to install the MultiLog 2 central cold chain in Madagascar. We have all the equipment and installation guide. What is missing is a positioning guide of temperature sensors inside the cold rooms. If you have this information, thank you to share to me. On ou...
Thanks to the flexibility of the TechNet-21 website, I can share two older (circa 1985) collections of densely technical and highly practical equipment maintenance documents developed by WHO using the TechNet Resource Library (TRL). Once only available in hardcopy or in a digital corner of the onlin...
Great study on off-label use of HepB vaccine out of the cold chain and how this help raise HepB birth dose coverage by almost 30% without any safety or adverse reaction reported.It does feel that we really don’t make full use of VVMs!!!
Hepatitis B vaccine stored outside the cold chain setting: a p...
I have struggled unsuccessfully to link this message to a remark made by Soren Spanner a week or two ago asking whether anyone has tried to distribute vaccine to remote sites by drone? I'm surprised that a debate on this subject has not yet reached TECHNET. Luckily the global debate seems healthy! T...
Dear TechNet Colleagues,
I would like to share with you a report on our latest cold chain maintenance investigation in Mozambique: "Why Fridges Fail Part 2: RTM Data for Maintenance".
We are beginning to document how remote temperature monitoring data and dashboards can be used by maintenance t...
WHO has just released a new infographic that summarises how health workers can use vaccine vial monitors (VVMs) to decide whether or not to use a vaccine vial. Most notably, it presents VVM colour change as a continuous progression, rather than as four distinct stages.
A VVM is a chemical indicat...
We are delighted to announce the creation of the Cold Chain Equipment management page on TechNet.
-->you can access the page by clicking here or through the “Resources” drop down menu on the top right of your screen
Resulting from thorough collaboration between technical assistance providers, this...
Over the last two decades, increased investments in health have yieldedsignificant gains in health outcomesfor tens of millions of people around the world. At the same time, economic growth has raised hundreds of millions out of extreme poverty and helped fuel a vast expansion in information technol...
Dear Technet Colleagues,
Around the world a variety of professionals are involved in 'health supply chains' (the supply chain responsible for moving medicines and medical equipment from manufacture to the patient). In some countries these are professional logistics and supply chain personnel. In ot...
Among the TECHNET postings on cold-chain equipment there are embedded remarks pointing towards the need to make vaccine refrigeration simpler and less expensive to procure, more responsive to energy changes and easier to use and maintain. For example, to choose a refrigerator now current WHO, UNICEF...
In cooperation with the Uganda Ministry of Health, PATH recently conducted a pilot study to document equipment failures in the Uganda National Expanded Programme on Immunization cold chain.
Due to our use of purposeful sampling to locate a subset of failed cold chain equipment in Uganda, conclusion...
an interview with MIT’s UAV vaccine delivery team
Earlier this year, Dr. George Barbastathis and five graduate students—Nikhil Vadhavkar, Adam Pan, Vyas Ramanan, Andrew Warren, and Justin Lee—from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) were awarded $100,000 by the Bill & Melinda Gate...
Dear Colleagues:
We are pleased to circulate the 2nd Global Analysis of Effective Vaccine Management (EVM), 2009-2014. To date, 82 countries have conducted EVM assessments between 2009-2014, of which 26 countries have conducted the assessment twice.
The slide deck follows the same format as the 1s...
Dear viewers
Context:
India in collaboration with development partners like WHO/UNICEF/USAID/MCHIP etc has made remarkable advances in the last ten years: introduction of Measles 2nd dose, HepB vaccine including Birth dose vaccine, JE 2 doses, Pentavalent vaccine, year 2012-13 declared as year of ...
A recent article on vaccine wastage from the International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health
http://www.ijcmph.com/?mno=214575
Abstract
Background: India released its first National Vaccine Policy in 2011. The country is presently developing new strategies to increase immunization...
From today's Guardian
Health workers face suspicion and a lack of cold storage as they test the Ebola vaccine
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/mar/10/ebola-vaccine-trial-sierra-leone-fear-logistics-immunisations
Dr Tamba Manye, who works for the World Health Organisation (WHO) i...
In case this new article published in Applied Energy is of interest
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261916302793
AbstractAn intermittent solar adsorption refrigerator can supply cold needed in third world countries, especially for vaccine and medicine preservation. This paper...
Interesting paper on system design in Nigeria from Health Affairs.
Abstract
One of the major problems facing Nigeria’s vaccine supply chain is the lack of adequate vaccine storage facilities. Despite the introduction of solar-powered refrigerators and the use of new tools to monitor supply levels,...
I was recently looking at the “System Sizing tool 3/3” in a 2DI3 “Technical evaluation and Methodology” a unicef publication. The publication originated from a 2DI3 SDD industry meeting.
The sizing method prescribed is based on the premise that “the daily potential solar energy supply is calculated...
Veuillez trouver ci-dessous les liens concernant trois documents, liés à la gestion efficace des vaccins, qui sont dès à présent disponibles en français:
• COMMENT UTILISER LES CONTENEURS PASSIFS ET LES BRIQUETTES À EFFET ISOTHERME POUR LE TRANSPORT DES VACCINS ET LES OPÉRATIONS EN PÉRIPHÉRIE
ht...
Dear viewers
In one of the Training of Trainers programme in 1990’s at Chennai, a resource person told that ‘ASA’ – Attention, Suspicion and Authority are the 3 important elements of any good surveillance.
Through high sensitivity, observational capacity, timely reporting often rare syndromes were...
Dear Supply Chain Managers and Friends,
A few days ago, I conducted a supervisory visit to a health post in Senegal to check the implementation of the "Informed Push Model" project (IPM), which I have lead since last August, and which has been distributing family planning products (9 to 11 products...
Within the next ten years access will be extended to immunization for the families of approximately 20% of the world’s new-borns who have never seen the health service. Some will be located in remote areas that suffer from lack of infrastructure, hostile topography and extreme temperatures. Reachi...
Supply chains play a critical role in improving health, saving lives, and reducing under-five mortality. After all, as I've heard several logisticians say, "if you have no product, you have no program." And it is true, especially in a field like immunization. If you can't get vaccines to the hospita...
Immunization outreach services depend on a protective, affordable and efficient supply chain to benefit rather than obstruct outreach operations. Four potential cold-chain solutions are on offer but each has barriers to be negotiated or removed. The options are:
Frozen water packs BUT we should s...
WHO and UNICEF have just released a new joint publication on solar fridges and freezers that is intended to provide managers in national immunization programmes with guidance on how to implement successful solar-powered vaccine refrigerator and freezer systems. It takes into account new developments...
This is motivated by John Lloyd's recent post about a supply chain for outreach immunization, which I found very interesting. My question is somewhat peripherally related though. As some background, I am an academic who focuses on supply chain analysis, and in particular, I have worked a fair bit on...
Reposted from JSI's The Pump
Jeff Sanderson,Senior Technical Advisor
African immunization supply chains need to be transformed. Between 2010 and 2020, new vaccine introductions will quadruple the volume of vaccines per immunized child. The number of vaccine doses that health workers will adminis...
Dear TechNet Members,
First and foremost, let me wish you all a Happy New Year and extend my best wishes for a successful and productive 2016.
One of the TechNet achievements of 2015 was the organization of the 14th edition of the face to face conference of TechNet members and the wider community ...
The case for a ‘Common Logistics Operating Platform’ to serve District Management of Supply systems and Service delivery support.
Question: Could an ‘Integrated Public Health Supply Chain Platform’ at district level replace the current, fragmented, inefficient and costly provision of separate s...
Dear Technet Members,
In February, Pamela Steele Associates (PSA) and Dr Andrew Brown will be drawing on their extensive experience in the health and humanitarian sector to deliver three popular training courses in Dubai, U.A.E:
i. HEALTH SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT (14th – 18th Feb 2016)
ii. SUPPL...
How best can a less developed country like Uganda conduct a cost effective POD in real time after trucks have delivered?...
“You can’t vaccinate a child with a mobile phone.”Andrea Coleman, co-founder, Riders for Health
Technology is all the rage in global health programs, from immunization and child survival to reproductive and maternal health, to malaria, HIV and TB programs. mHealth platforms proliferate, eHealth app...
Recently, I was sitting with the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) Manager, his senior staff, and technical assistance (TA) partners in an African country, discussing support for better visibility and analysis of immunization supply chain data. The EPI Manager was willing to listen, but wasn’...
The way forward
As maternal and child health advocates, how can we support the adoption of next-generation supply chains so that products successfully reach the women and children who most urgently need them? Read on...
http://globalhealth.org/delivering-health-services-to-women-and-children-how-s...
Dear Colleagues
Is there any guidance (ideally offical and/or anecdotal) on transportation of non cold chain items in refrigerated vehicles?
Assuming vehicles have space, (are making journeys less than half full), are there any concerns about transporting non cold chain, vaccine related supplies (...
PtD is very pleased to share the newly published 'PtD Namibia Synthesis Report' with members of TechNet-21.
In November 2013, the Minister of Health presented a formal request to the People that Deliver (PtD) Board and member institutions for technical support to develop a sustainable strategy t...
Hi all,
I just wrote a blog on PATH's DefeatDD.org called "Getting to 'Mars' with immunization delivery," which I thought might be of interest!
I really enjoyed the recent blockbuster movie,The Martian. Andas a vaccine advocate supporting PATH's advocacy for stronger immunization supply chains pro...
WHO recommends 2 temperature ranges for keeping all vaccines at health facilities (+2C +8C) and (-15C -25C) for OPV above district level.
The rationale for using first range is explained in “Thermostability of vaccines”.
What is the reason for use of second range (-15C -25C) for OPV and some freez...
In a new article on the RBFHealth blog, Brian Serumaga, supply chain technical advisor with the USAID | DELIVER PROJECT, discusses the role of the central medical store in strengthening the performance of health supply chains and the findings of a recent results-based financing pilot in Mozambique. ...
Dear Colleagues,
Many of the prequalified refrigerators have integrated digital thermometers with digital display outside showing instantaneous temperature readings.
During the field visits, I have started to notice considerable number of refrigerators with non-functioning digital display. I am ...
Below are some examples of how an MKT thermometer could be used to to simpllfy temperature data analysis for the cold chain.
If the temperature in a refrigerator is 4 deg C for 20 hours then increases to 15 deg C for 4 hours, how will the vaccine life be affected?
- If this is a one day occurrence...
Dear Technet21 Members,
I would like to take the opportunity to introduce a new course to you. ‘Managing Human Resources in Health and Humanitarian Supply Chains: Strategies, Tools and Techniques’. This course will be offered by Pamela Steele Associates (PSA) in Oxford, 30th November and 4th Dec...
Announcing two new publications, part of the Vaccine Management Handbook series:
How to monitor temperatures in the vaccine supply chain (WHO/IVB/15.04)
http://www.who.int/immunization/documents/financing/who_ivb_15.04
How to use passive containers and coolant-packs for vaccine transport and o...
Potency of vaccine at the time of administration to the beneficiaries is of utmost importance in preventing morbidity and mortality due to vaccine preventable diseases. Evolution of more and more vaccines against crippling and lethal diseases has made vaccination the most cost-effective and importan...
Choices, choices, choices – they are both the bane and blessing of our times. As immunization managers, we now have a wide array of PQS-prequalified cold chain equipment to choose from, but how do we make the right choices and get the best value for our bucks? The TechNet Product Reviews area helps ...
I’m delighted to announce the online release of WHO’s new 3-part film on the Controlled Temperature Chain (CTC) produced by IVB/EPI in both English and French.
This 3-episode film on CTC serves as an advocacy tool in order to promote the approach among varied stakeholders. The first episode explain...
The USAID | DELIVER PROJECT and People that Deliver developed theHuman Resource Capacity Development in Public Health Supply Chain Management: Assessment Guide and Toolto help public health supply chain managers in developing countries assess and improve the management of their human resources. It...
Passing along a great blog post written by Erin Fry Sosne at PATH after taking her son to the clinic for his vaccinations earlier today.
Would you go back?
Today is my son’s six-month birthday, and my husband and I took him in for his six-month pediatric appointment. He was due for his third and...
As you may know, immunization was on the agenda at the World Health Assembly in May.
This year, PATH listened specifically for references to immunization supply chains and logistics. A few official statements mentioned supply chain, cold chain or logistics, but usually in a list of issues to be add...
Thank you to all the countries who have responded so far to the supply chain manager survey (Benin, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Guinea, Tanzania, Tonga, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan). We would like to hear from all the other Gavi countries: your input will be extremely valuable...
The percent difference between the gross refrigerator (ILRs and SDDs) volumes quoted in the PQS Catalogue and the net vaccine storage volume varies from 29.6% to 88.6 %. This is a wide variation for front opening fridges, due to space for air-circulation.
Increasingly, new models of ILR and SDD are...
TechNet 2015 Day 3 tackled Managing the System: Human Resources for Supply Chain Management and Data for Management. These two themes are closely linked.People are the sources of data, and people must also have the skills and capacity to use that data for management decisions. In well performing sup...
On day 4 of the TechNet Conference, I facilitated a roundtable discussion on what it takes to generate political will for supply chain improvements. At each table, participants shared their experiences generating political will and discussed in detail what it took to achieve meaningful change.
Be...
How about a Buffered Temperature Chain (BTC)?
Vaccines which are highly thermally stable can be distributed in the Controlled Temperature Chain (CTC). To be incorporated into the CTC the vaccines must be stable enough to be stored for 3 days at 40 deg C. There are very few vaccines which are this...
Though training workshops are held on cold chain, temperature excursion was not adequately addressed. The guidelines on open vial policy permit 3 trips to outreach from ILR point. The protocol of supervising/ documenting temperature excursion from the manufacturer to regional level may be well matur...
Vaccine vial size – the total number of doses a single vaccine vial contains – can have a significant impact on vaccine distribution, costs, and use, according to a paper recently published in the journalVaccine.
In the study titled “One Size Does Not Fit All: The Impact of Primary Vaccine Containe...
A new infographic that explains "What is a controlled temperature chain (CTC)?" is available on the WHO website:
http://www.who.int/immunization/programmes_systems/supply_chain/resources/WHO_CTC_Infographic.pdf...
The decision of a National Immunization Programme to use Solar Direct Driven (SDD) Refrigerators instead of Solar Panels to run refrigerators I think is like presenting challenges in the so called expected “better and sustainable solution” especially for the low resources countries. It is true that...
Sun Frost developed a hybrid refrigerator/ice pack freezer, the FRH-3. The Sun Frost FRH-3 has a SDD freezer and a battery powered refrigerator. The SDD freezer is the same size as our F-1 (http://www.sunfrost.com/batteryless_direct_drive_freezer.html) and incorporates the same technology which allo...
Many country vaccine distribution systems in low to middle income countries feature scheduled deliveries from central to intermediate level stores. But they depend on collection or a mix of collection and delivery at service delivery level of the system. The mode of travel varies as transport becom...
PATH is conducting this survey to learn how vaccine carriers are currently used in the vaccine supply chain and whether they are meeting the needs of the health system. We are interested in global trends as well as examples from individual countries. We welcome any comments or feedback. The survey w...
by Dan Brigden, WHO
Over the last five years, project Optimize has worked closely with national immunization programs to explore innovative solutions to supply chain challenges. Each project has attempted to solve a particular immunization challenge—from an electronic immunization registry in Alb...
Newly-prequalified cold chain equipment is regularly added to the PQS Catalogue. To keep up-to-date with changes to the PQS Catalogue, you can now follow the PQS updates feed on Twitter: https://twitter.com/pqs_updates In addition to listing newly-prequalified equipment, the feed also highlights...
This is the third posting I have made on in-country transport of vaccine. The first two postings opened issues for discussion on vaccine storage temperatures and on optimizing inter-store transfers. This posting focuses on transport for outreach immunization in the context of a passive-cooled supply...
Systematic Routine Remote Temperature monitoring: are we ready?
Minutes and documents from the Remote Temperature Monitoring workshop, Zanzibar, 4 – 6 November 2014
Remote Temperature Monitoring Technology is recommended to be used at Central Store locations and has been deployed there for the l...
I hope that you will disagree with me and tell me that medical waste disposal systems in low-to-middle income countries have advanced dramatically in the last ten years. But I have the impression is that the interest that existed in the first five years of the millennium has declined and that the na...
Announcement: Vietnam’s National Expanded Programme on Immunisation (NEPI) has since 2010 worked with the Luxembourg Agency for Development Cooperation to strengthen the nation-wide cold chain equipment maintenance system, using an outsourced services model. Simultaneously, a nationwide internal co...
The Cold Chain Support Package (CCSP) on the UNICEF internet site is now officially ‘live’. The CCSP is an initiative of the UNICEF Supply Division in Copenhagen. It is meant to support UNICEF Country Offices and Partners with the procurement of Cold Chain Equipment through UNICEF Supply Division. W...
Dear TechNet21 colleagues,
Vietnam’s National Expanded Programme on Immunisation (NEPI) has since 2010 worked with the Luxembourg Agency for Development Cooperation to strengthen the nation-wide cold chain equipment maintenance system, using an outsourced services model. Simultaneously, a nationw...
Dear All,
WHO EPELA authentic e-learning courses are accepting applications for 2015 courses. Great opportunity for a lifetime experience...
http://http://epela.net/epela_web/index.php
PHARMACEUTICAL COLD CHAIN MANAGEMENT
2 February – 24 April 2015
4 May – 24 July 2015
7 September - 27 ...
Dear TechNet 21 Members,
Thank you to those who have taken part in our survey so far.
We have had more than 100 contributors from many countries but we still need more.
PtD is leading the development of a 'SCM Leadership Competency Framework' as part of the GAVI People and Practice Workin...
Two pager on impact of implementing open vial policy was shared with the superiors and development partners at all levels and with the eminent professors of international reputation of Medical Colleges in Karnataka and Rajeev Gandhi University. On suggestion and demand; for dissemination prepared a ...
This post follows another on in-country Vaccine Transport a week ago, inviting discussion of the post and suggesting we discuss a revision of vaccine transport temperatures around a single temperature requirement; +2C to +8C during 48 hours with excursions 100kgs) requires rolling and lifting trolle...
Dear Colleagues,
Thank you to those who filled in the 1st survey. We have had 88 responses so far.
As part of the GAVI supply chain strategy PtD has been leading the development of a ‘SCM Leadership Competency Framework’ as part of the GAVI People and Practice Working Group.
Such a framework ...
The new WHO EVM Assessment Tool (version 1.1.0) is available for download from the EVM restricted access website:
https://extranet.who.int/evm
The attached release note briefly summarizes the changes made to the tool. Please download and install the new tool – important changes have been made....
WHO's “Guidelines on the international packing and shipping of vaccines” clearly defines the temperature conditions for vaccines in three groups of stability up to a maximum travel duration of 48 hours. Guidelines for in-country transport cannot yet be found in a single document but are scattered am...
Interesting article from Bloomberg.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-17/ebola-vaccine-challenge-motorbikes-and-kerosene-fridges.html
This section on the supply chain challenges is particularly interesting:
Muddy Roads
“Even if we decide not to use the vaccine during this outbreak and ...
Dear Colleagues,
As part of the GAVI supply chain strategy PtD has been leading the development of a ‘SCM Leadership Competency Framework’ as part of the GAVI People and Practice Working Group.
Such a framework will be used to help develop SCM job descriptions for leaders, and guide the develop...
VVM’s and MKT are equivalent methods of measuring the effect of temperature variations on vaccines. VVM’s & MKT measurements can be used in a complimentary manner, the VVM’s give information on the life of individual vaccine vials. MKT measurements can be used to effectively measure the performa...
Passing along this link to a recent article from Prashant Yadav published in Vaccine on a framework for supply chain integration. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264410X14013589 Highlights • Integration with other supply chains is often presented as a strategy to improve the eff...
In recognition that an increasing number of vaccines are able to tolerate temperatures well above those officially stated on their labels, the World Health Organization (WHO) has been supporting efforts to assess and take advantage of the true heat stability of vaccines. Upstream work in this regard...
Colleagues,
I'm cross-posting this IAPHL conversation for TechNet input:
If our long term goal is that all countries have high-performing cold chain equipment that meets the needs for current vaccines as well as near-term new introductions, this points to the need for action across several areas....
I'm a student with the University of Washington. We are trying to develop and improve upon cost models for the cold chain. We know that for grid electricity, kerosene and gas we can multiply country energy prices by consumption. Has anyone attempted to model what the cost would be if the refrigerato...
Last week marked the second occasion that a Controlled Temperature Chain (CTC) has been officially used with a vaccine licensed, pre-qualified, and labelled accordingly. Mauritania has just completed a Meningitis A immunization campaign (scheduled from October 14th to the 23rd) using the Meningococ...
Please find at the link below the revised WHO multi-dose vial policy. Please disseminate widely to all EPI staff. Thank you. Veuillez trouver au lien ci-dessous la nouvelle politique de l'OMS en ce qui concerne la manipulation correcte des flacons de vaccin multidoses entamés. Je vous prie de bien ...
New interesting articles from the folks at MIT/Zaragoza Logistics Centre in press for Operations Research for Health Care.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211692314200002#
Abstract
In the battle for global health, supply chains are often found wanting. Yet most of what is kn...
Dear All, I am a project coordinator for Nexleaf Analytics. We are a nonprofit organization dedicated to building low-cost technologies that create positive health, environmental and social impact. I have attached a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for fridge maintenance for your review. Additio...
The results of a study conducted by Epicentre /Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) assessing the immunogenicity and safety of a tetanus toxoid vaccine have been recently published in Vaccine.[sup]1 [/sup]
The study was conducted in collaboration with the Project Optimize, the Belgian Institute of Public...
The 'Moving Warehouse' (MW) system of vaccine distribution issues vaccine as needed from a mobile stock to a series of stores situated on a pre-planned delivery circuit. MW has proved to be the best of the available choices in countries of three regions, by achieving the following comparative advant...
Two solar direct drive ice pack freezers have been successfully tested for seven months in Columbia. The F-1 was manufactured by Sun Frost and a second freezer was produced by Sun Danzer. The freezers were tested by Steve McCarney of SELF and the project was supported by BMGF grant. The tests result...
Dear experts, I have two questions for you.
1/ On most of blistered and non blistered medicine monograph, there is written that medicines should be kept in a cool and dry place.
WHO guidance on temperature is well explained. Fine.
It is very hard to find anything around humidity. Except that ...
There are no discussions available here currently