Access to health products is one of the main priorities of the World Health Organization (WHO). Unfortunately, this guiding principle is undermined by stock-outs, lower quality drugs and weakness of the supply system: poor needs assessment, illegal circuits, non-compliant storage areas, lack of reliable information systems, lack of financial resources for procurement, etc. In this context, global initiatives fighting diseases and, more particularly, striving to reach Development Goals 4, 5, and 6, recognize the need for Health Systems Strengthening (HSS). One of the main objectives is to develop an effective and efficient supply system through institutional and organizational capacity-building which makes human resource (HR) development a strategic priority.

The Guidance Manual was developed following requests from countries interested in establishing or strengthening National Logistics Working Groups (NLWG), in order to improve systematically the Immunization Supply Chain and Logistics (ISCL)infrastructure and systems at country level. This NLWG Guidance Manual provides both technical and operational guidance on how countries may create or/and strengthen NLWG. It outlines the various steps that may be taken to initiate, implement, monitor and reinforce a NLWG.

This article describes how NMSF, as a semi-autonomous pharmaceuticals supply agency, has been successful in partnering with UNICEF and the People that Deliver (PtD) Initiative in developing a comprehensive strategy for the development and retention of its workforce. Success is attributed to strong leadership with a focus on continual improvement of all aspects of the organization.

The People that Deliver Initiative’s mission is “to build global and national capacity to implement evidence based approaches to plan, finance, develop, support and retain the national workforces needed for the effective, efficient and sustainable management of health supply chains.”

The case study describes the transition of the public health supply chain for medical commodities in Kenya. In 2004 there were 11 parallel supply chains operating in the country.

Ce travail a été dirigé par Andrew Brown, directeur exécutif de People that Deliver, dans le cadre du Groupe de travail sur les ressources humaines et les pratiques visant à contribuer à la stratégie de la chaîne d’approvisionnement de GAVI, en étroite collaboration avec Kevin Etter, consultant spécialiste de la chaîne d’approvisionnement, UPS.

Developed by USAID deliver project, this assessment guide and tool present a structured, rating-based methodology designed to provide a rapid, comprehensive assessment of the capacity of the human resource support system for a country’s supply chain.

The paper provides an assessment of the human resources (HR) landscape for supply change management (SCM) in immunisation supply chains, which is intended to inform the GAVI Alliance Immunization Supply Chain Strategy.

Health logistics continues to be an obstacle to successful global health interventions. In the World Health Organization 2005 report ‘Health and the Millennium Development Goals,’ the problem of logistics for health is highlighted: “Much of the burden of disease can be prevented or cured with known and affordable technologies.

A two-day workshop was held to review the draft curriculum for Health Supply Chain Management in which 40 participants representing different institutions.