RITI – SUPPLY CHAIN DIPLOMA
Efficient and Effective
Supply Chain Management
Its impacts on Public Health Economics
To
Dr. Ashraf Abdel-Khalek
By
Akram Mahmoud Ali
Table of Contents
Introduction ............................................................................................................. 3
Overview of public heath ............................................................................................ 4
What is Public Health? ............................................................................................ 4
Core functions of public health ................................................................................ 4
How does efficient supply chain promote Public Health? ........................................... 5
1.Effective supply chains support disease prevention, control, and response ........ 5
2.Patient-centered supply chains build trust in health systems ............................... 6
3.Efficient and effective supply chains result in cost savings .................................. 8
How to strengthen health supply chains? ................................................................... 9
1.Strengthen information management systems ..................................................... 9
2.Streamline procurement processes and implement strategic purchasing ............ 9
3.Improve supply chain oversight, coordination, and troubleshooting ..................... 9
4.Build the competence of supply chain professionals ............................................ 9
Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 10
References:........................................................................................................... 12
2
Introduction
Public health is concerned with protecting the health of entire
populations. Public health deals with protecting and improving the health
of people and their communities where they live, learn, work and play. It
promotes wellness through encouraging healthy lifestyles, researching
disease and prevention, and early detection and response to diseases.
Public health professionals try to prevent problems from happening or
recurring through implementing educational programs, recommending
policies, administering services and conducting research—in contrast to
clinical professionals like doctors and nurses, who focus primarily on
treating individuals after they become sick or injured. A large part of public
health is promoting health care equity, quality and accessibility. So, public
health saves money, improves quality of life, and increase national
productivity.
Currently, Egypt adopt policies and approaches to transform the public
health. Between efforts accrued in the field of health promotion, there are
many health complains and initiatives e.g. HCV eradication campaign,
and anemia and dwarfism campaign. For these initiatives to succeed and
get its fruits, thoughtful amounts of the necessary medications and
supplies are to be provided, distributed, and stored according to
vulnerability areas, in order to effectively respond to the detected cases,
otherwise, it will be nothing more than waste in time, effort and money.
Here is the connection between public health economics and health
supply chain management. Proper supply chain can connect all parties
together and to a common goal to get the intended health outcomes at the
least possible cost, effort, and time
3
Overview of public heath
What is Public Health?
“Public health is the science of preventing disease, prolonging life
and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed
choices of society, organizations, public and private communities, and
individuals.”
—CEA Winslow
“Public health aims to provide maximum benefit for the largest
number of people.”
—WHO
Core functions of public health
I.
Assessment:
- Assess and monitor population health status—community health
profile, vital statistics, ….
- Investigate and address health hazards and their root causes
II. Policy Development:
- Communicate effectively to inform, educate, and empower
people about health issues.
- Strengthen, support and mobilize community partnerships to
solve health problems.
- Create and implement policies, plans and laws that support
individual and community health efforts.
III. Assurance:(Ensure provision of services to those in need)
- Enforce laws, regulations that protect health and ensure safety.
- Enable equitable access healthcare i.e. link people to needed
health services and ensure the provision of healthcare.
4
- Build a diverse and skilled workforce.
How does efficient supply
chain promote Public Health?
1. Effective supply chains support disease prevention,
control, and response
Supply chain is a critical element of a well-functioning health system
and a vital input to advancing health security goals. To strengthen their
disease detection and epidemic response systems, health commodity
procurement, warehousing, and distribution systems must be able to meet
evolving public health and health security demands.
To prevent, detect, and effectively respond to disease events, supply
systems must be able to quickly and reliably source and distribute
diagnostics, vaccines, medicines, and other related commodities.
5
2. Patient-centered supply chains build trust in health
systems
Patient-centered supply chains ensure that patients have access to
quality medicines when and where they need them, and at an affordable
price. To implement supply chain processes effectively there must be an
understanding of patient disease trends and product consumption
patterns, as well as how and where patients seek health care services.
This requires investments and capacity development in information
management.
The operational components of a health logistics system are product
selection, forecasting and procurement, warehousing, and storage and
distribution. Beside reducing costs, effective coordination between these
components prevents delays in supply that can affect patient access to
critical life-saving vaccines, medicines, and clinical treatments.
6
Information management is at the heart of a supply chain and drives
operational decision-making, planning, and resource allocation.
By facilitating the availability of medicines and medical supplies to
patients, robust supply chains save lives, strengthen health systems, and
improve service delivery. The availability of medicines is a major
determinant of where patients go for health care, how much they spend
out-of-pocket (OOP), and how satisfied they are with that care.
Product availability impacts the productivity of health workers: when
medicines and other essential supplies fail to arrive at a health facility,
patient volumes drop, which in turn adversely affects health care worker
utilization. Patients also often turn to informal pharmacies and medicine
distribution channels which might offer unregulated, ineffective, and
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unsafe medicines. Moreover, product availability contributes to improved
health outcomes.
By ensuring that medicines and other medical supplies are safe and
reliable, supply chains play an important role in protecting the health of
patients, building trust in a health care system, and crowding out informal
and unsafe supply chains. Robust supply chains—and the regulatory
agents that oversee them—also protect the public from substandard or
counterfeit medicines.
3. Efficient and effective supply chains result in cost
savings
High percentage of health expenditure are due to pharmaceutical and
medical devices costs. It is reported that supply chains account for nearly
25% of pharmaceutical costs and more than 40% of medical device costs.
Optimizing supply chain strategies and processes can produce savings,
which can then be passed on to patients and used to expand health care
services to more people. The procurement function provides critical
opportunities to achieve supply chain cost effectiveness.
Forward procurement planning and the timely submission of medicine
and commodity orders, which allow manufacturers to adjust production
schedules well in advance, can also result in procurement price
reductions.
On the operations side, minimizing held stocks, reducing product
storage periods, and improving management of product expiry dates can
bring about additional cost savings. Consistent adherence to good storage
practices, particularly for heat-sensitive cold-chain items such as some
vaccines, can also reduce the risk of product wastage.
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How to strengthen health
supply chains?
1. Strengthen information management systems
Accurate and timely inventory data inform budgeting, procurement,
inventory management, and distribution processes. Inventory
management systems can provide real-time information which enables
health managers to understand current stock levels of vaccines,
medicines, and diagnostics in national supply pipelines. This in turn better
supports disease prevention, control, and response initiatives in the timely
positioning of critical supplies. Automated, accurate, and real-time
inventory data strengthen resupply and distribution planning capacity.
They enhance the ability of supply chains to reduce waste and manage
limited resources more effectively.
2. Streamline procurement processes and implement
strategic purchasing
Procurement and process improvements can minimize the risk of
procurement errors, improve transparency, and reduce sourcing lead
times. These yield significant cost savings.
3. Improve supply chain oversight, coordination, and
troubleshooting
In implementing the various phases of a supply chain, many elements
and factors have to be considered and coordinated.
4. Build the competence of supply chain
professionals
Efficient and effective supply chains require trained and competent
staff to execute operations and meet health system demands. The skills
needed to manage a supply chain include product forecasting, inventory
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management and analysis, and contract management and monitoring.
Managing price negotiations with suppliers and local customs clearance
procedures, financial management, and distribution planning are also
important supply chain competencies. In light of the critical role skilled and
competent staff play in managing supply chains, health systems should
invest in the training and professionalization of local supply chain staff.
Conclusion
Effective and efficient supply chain promotes public health, health
security, health economics. For public initiatives and complain to promote
public health, the proper supply chains are to be planed wisely, before the
start of execution, and must be organized, directed and controlled
continuously throughout the execution.
Nowadays, Egypt adopt policies and approaches to transform the
public health. Between efforts accrued in the field of health promotion,
there are many health complains and initiatives e.g. HCV eradication
campaign, and anemia and dwarfism campaign. For these initiatives to
succeed and get its fruits, thoughtful amounts of the necessary
medications and supplies are to be provided, distributed, and stored
according to vulnerability areas, in order to effectively respond to the
detected cases, otherwise, it will be nothing more than waste in time, effort
10
and money. Here is the connection between public health economics and
health supply chain management. Proper supply chain can connect all
parties together and to a common goal to get the intended health
outcomes at the least possible cost, effort, and time
11
References:
1
2
3
4
5
. Strong Supply Chains Transform Public Health (adb.org)
. What is Public Health? | CDC Foundation
. What is Public Health? (apha.org)
. CoreFunctions.pdf (lacounty.gov)
. https://www.apha.org/What-is-Public-Health/10-Essential-Public-HealthServices
6 . What is public health? | Health Careers
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