For PtD, global health conferences are uniquely valuable and insightful. At the recent Global Health Supply Chain Summit (GHSCS) and African Medicines Manufacturing Trade Exhibition and Conference (AMMTEC), country supply chain leaders, global donors, implementing partners, training providers and supply chain management professionals – all those concerned with the health supply chain management workforce in low- and middle-come countries – were in attendance.
Speaking to country leaders and implementing partners gives me a chance to hear about a country’s challenges in retaining staff, but also the opportunities. I hear firsthand how supply chain management leadership can impact a country’s ability to provide access to health products.
At conferences the opportunities to hear from key country stakeholders are infinite: they sit beside you in the plenary sessions, you rub shoulders in the corridor as you make your way to the next session, you spark up conversation during the coffee break, you watch to them present on their key health supply chain challenges and solutions.
GHSCS: Leadership and professionalisation are top priorities
At the GHSCS, held in Lagos, Nigeria, three weeks ago, the PtD secretariat able to present the strides the PtD coalition is making towards helping countries within the East African Community to professionalise their health supply chain workforce and discuss what is making the STEP 2.0 leadership development programme so successful. Crucially, we were also able to learn about countries’ priorities and where they are seeking technical assistance.
In some cases, PtD tools and/or resources are part of the solution: PtD’s STEP 2.0 hub coordinator, Esther Ndichu, heard from countless ministry of health officials during the recent ACAME general assembly and the African Forum on supply chain strengthening for health products (FARCAPS) of their desire for their supply chain leaders to benefit from the STEP 2.0 programme.
In other cases, this will require even more collaboration, coordination and convening.
Supply chain and manufacturing: Two peas in a pod
AMMTEC, held in Dar es Salaam from 20 – 22 November, offered a unique opportunity for the PtD coalition. This conference attracted a large contingent of regional manufacturers: a new audience for PtD.
Listening to the presentations and talking to global and regional manufacturing representatives, it soon became clear that the questions being asked of health supply chains are the same questions being asked of the regional manufacturing industry: Does our workforce have the necessary skills for us to achieve our goals? Do we have the necessary educational programmes and institutions to develop such a workforce? What skills will they need?
The participants at AMMTEC are united in their ambition: for the continent of Africa to manufacture its own medicines and health technologies with which to supply its own population and, if possible, to export.
Achieving such a level of self-sufficiency depends largely on the continent’s ability to develop home-grown talent. Collectively, the industry will need to define the capabilities, knowledge, skills and roles needed to expand the manufacturing sector, and develop the educational capacity to be able to do so. This will mean African educational institutions offering related courses.
We heard of the Ethiopian Manufacturing Association’s ambition to train 5,000 Ethiopians through short courses and work-based learning programmes. PtD’s recently-released Work-based learning toolkit and strategies offers a directory of resources to help employers, governments and educational institutions develop the future workforce.
We heard of the need for manufacturers to establish links with universities and professional associations, about DP World’s focus on upskilling both youth and women in Africa, and about Eva Pharma’s plan to provide in-house work-based learning opportunities.
There are certainly lessons from the health supply chain management space. We are witnessing a proliferation of educational institutions catering to supply chain management professionals in LMICs: coalition members Bee Skilled, EAC Regional Centre of Excellence, i+Solutions, IIHMR Delhi, Empower School of Health and Mahidol University are all offering courses in SCM and developing the capacity of the health SCM workforce.
We don’t have to look very hard within the PtD coalition to find examples of innovation in learning. Pamela Steele Associates, for example, has recently instituted the Girls on the Move programme. This innovative internship programme helps women in the field gain valuable experience and forge a meaningful career.
Political will must translate to action
Our work on SCM professionalisation has taught us that developing a broad coalition that spans every relevant stakeholder is essential to progress. The SCM professionalisation framework has offered a roadmap for this collaboration and resulted in great progress in Nigeria, Rwanda and Mozambique, and most recently in East Africa, with South Sudan just now beginning the journey.
With political commitment and adequate funding we are seeing progress being made in SCM professionalisation and leadership capacity. This must continue as we head into 2025.
Continuing to learn from one another – and expanding our broad network of collaborators wherever possible – will be key to this.”
