Costing study helps optimize warehousing and transportation in Peru

In 2015, Peru’s Ministry of Health (MOH), in partnership with the USAID | DELIVER PROJECT, implemented and co-funded a costing study for warehousing and transportation in La Libertad Region. The study helped document, for the first time, the specific warehousing and transportation costs of a sample of 304 preventive and life-saving medicines in La Libertad. After the study, the Minister of Health, the Director of Logistics Unit for Strategic Medicines (DARES), and health region Directors committed to implement the costing methodology in the rest of the country. The results of this study contribute to: increasing the visibility of logistics costs in the results-based budget; analyzing various transportation options and related costs to help optimize distribution to the most remote and inaccessible areas; and advocating for the inclusion of logistics costs in the budget and, in this way, prioritize the distribution of life-saving drugs.