Global Health Supply Chain – Procurement and Supply Management (GHSC-PSM)

The Challenge

Supply chain systems to deliver drugs and other health commodities to people in need around the world aren’t always efficient, resilient, or reliable.

Overview and Objectives

URC is part of the consortium of organizations implementing the GHSC-PSM Project, managed by Chemonics. GHSC-PSM’s mission is to ensure uninterrupted supplies of health commodities through transformative supply chain solutions in support of U.S. Government-funded public health initiatives around the world.

GHSC-PSM provides direct procurement and supply chain management support to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative, USAID’s Population and Reproductive Health Program, and USAID’s Maternal and Child Health Program.

The project supports five health areas: HIV/AIDS, malaria, voluntary family planning and reproductive health, maternal and child health, and emerging public health threats such as Zika, Ebola and COVID-19. In supporting U.S. Government-funded global health activities, GHSC-PSM purchases and delivers health commodities, strengthens national systems through technical assistance, and supports global supply chain leadership so that lifesaving health supplies reach those in need, when they need them.

Working closely with country partners and suppliers worldwide, GHSC-PSM has three main objectives:

• Global commodity procurement and logistics: ensure continued availability of quality public health commodities to save lives;
• Systems strengthening technical assistance: foster resilient and sustainable in-country supply chain systems to maximize high-quality management of public health commodities; and
• Global collaboration: strategic engagement to promote adoption of global standards, security of health commodities, and data use to guide effective decision-making for long-term global supply of health commodities.

Achievements

URC has been engaged in multiple task orders and activities under this project. The following is an overview of what has been accomplished thus far by providing technical assistance across the spectrum of supply chain management via seconded staff and expert consultants:

Global: Warehousing and logistics, health workforce strengthening, leadership, and governance;

Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Panama, Peru: Support for importation and distribution of Zika commodities;

Malawi: Health workforce capacity building;

Guatemala: Logistics advisor supporting PSM regional project office;

Bangladesh: IT and data management support for survey of health facilities;

Ghana: Support for a supply chain master plan; and

Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini: Capacity building for government officials in contracts and procurement.