Cross-posted from the IAPHL forum with thanks! The post summarizes the discussion over three weeks. Week 1: Introduction to Supply Chain Design ? Supply Chain Design is about achieving objectives (Reliability, Responsiveness, Agility, Cost, Assets) by configuring infrastructure and process...

Dimagi is pleased to announce that it will support five organizations from various sectors in India and Nepal to explore the use of mobile technology for logistics and supply chain management in low-resource settings. Each organization will be supported to launch a proof of concept of CommTrack, an ...

The new WHO EVM Assessment Tool (version 1.0.9) is available for download from the EVM restricted access website: https://extranet.who.int/evm . To install the tool: • Login to the restricted access website • Click Get EVM Tools • Download the Assessment Tool Installer (version 1.0.9) • Unzi...

Immunization supply chains are regularly reviewed and plans made to improve them. All of the GAVI eligible countries carry our regular and comprehensive EVM reviews which help ministries focus their attention on the parts that most need help. Supply chains for drugs are not so fortunate; assessm...

I guess some of you would have followed recent developments around wild polio virus circulation in Syria where they are now clinical cases being reported. see http://www.who.int/csr/don/2013_10_29/en/index.html I am trying to gather guidances, publications, reports of polio intervention among re...

The GAVI Alliance is currently developing its strategy for the period 2016-2020, which will be presented to the GAVI Board for adoption in June 2014. The approach to develop the new strategy is highly inclusive and builds on the input of all partners and stakeholders in the Alliance. Based on consul...

To strengthen public health supply chains, policymakers, supply chain managers, and development partners need to know the real costs of delivering commodities. Identifying these costs and the sections of the supply chain that are driving costs can give decisionmakers the data they need to ensure ade...

Dear all, I hope this is a place where I can ask a question in the forum. WHO PQS-qualified refrigerators used frequently at the health facility level (E003) have a holding capacity measured by a particular WHO testing process. However, most fridges also have certain limitations on that holdi...

We think of fridge holdover time (autonomy) in the context of power shortage, whether cloudy weather in the case of solar, or power cuts for A/C systems. While this will see functioning equipment through power shortages and keep vaccine 'safe' for a given duration (a parameter which varies immensel...

Many thanks to Robert Steinglass for sharing this information with TechNet-21. As diseases emerge and infections re-emerge, new and improved vaccines are needed. The decisions about which vaccines should be developed first can affect millions of people's health, quality of life, and economic prog...

by Tina Lorenson, PATH, and Joanie Robertson, GAVI Alliance Newer vaccines often require more cold chain space and more reliable cooling equipment than traditional ones. For many national immunization programs, these requirements present a serious challenge. Aware of the problem, for the last fiv...

by Patrick Lydon, WHO, and Prashant Yadav, University of Michigan Project Optimize has recently published a document that examines the benefits, challenges, and rationale for integrating vaccine supply chains with the supply chains of other health commodities. It provides agencies, donors, decisi...

by Jan Grevendonk, WHO Project Optimize has worked closely with national immunization programs throughout the world to demonstrate innovative solutions to supply chain challenges. Many of these demonstration projects have involved the use of information systems to help improve the performance of im...

by Sean Blaschke and Lilian Nabunnya, UNICEF On April 26, 2013, health workers at 3,240 health facilities in Uganda were sent the following short-message service (SMS) text message: Does your Health Unit have a cold chain fridge for vaccines? Please answer YES / NO. If you have a fridge but it is ...

by Sy Gebrekidan (Merck), Debra Kristensen (PATH), Osman Mansoor (UNICEF), Gisele Corrêa Miranda (Fiocruz), Robert Steinglass (JSI), and Simona Zipursky (WHO) In 2009, the Vaccine Presentation and Packaging Advisory Group (VPPAG) published its first generic preferred product profile (gPPP) for ...

by Michel Zaffran, WHO In December 2007, a team of talented individuals from PATH and the World Health Organization (WHO) came together to form project Optimize, a five-year collaboration to identify ways in which supply chains can be optimized to meet the demands of an increasingly large and cos...

Ice lining of Ice Lined Refrigerator has many functions other than maintaining cold holdover time. The attachment with photos may substantiate. This I wish to share with the viewers for additional inputs. Ice-lining.docx...

This article has been cross-posted from IVAC Blog with thanks! Lois Privor-Dumm MIBS, Director of Policy, Advocacy & Communications and Bruce Lee, Director of Operations Research at IVAC You are having 100 guests for an outdoor picnic and need to make the decision: do you buy big bottles ...

A Guide to Introducing a Second Dose of Measles Vaccine into Routine Immunization Schedules (WHO/IVB/13.03) has been published. It is available at: http://www.who.int/immunization/documents/WHO_IVB_13.03/en/index.html This document is for national immunization programme managers and immunizatio...

The need to keep vaccines in a 2°C to 8°C cold chain is a constraining factor for many immunization campaigns due to limited storage capacity and/or limited ice pack freezing capacity; supplementary immunization activities planned across sub-Saharan Africa to introduce MenAfriVac™ are a good example...