Country Overview

SCMS focuses on information sharing, quantification, warehouse operations and management, and capacity building as key areas of supply chain improvement. All are essential components in an effort to strength the national health system. 

In Guyana, HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death among people between the ages of 20 and 44. In strengthening the National Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Management System, the Government of Guyana has placed a high emphasis on ensuring that those in need receive appropriate care and treatment.

The country’s supply chain is largely centralized and managed by the Materials Management Unit (MMU) of the Ministry of Health (MOH). Efforts to build the capacity of the MMU and integrate its systems at all levels are key to completely consolidating not only the HIV/AIDS supply chain but to creating a sustainable national supply chain for all commodities and supplies for the MOH. The Guyana MOH's HIV Vision 2020 is significant. Its goal is to lead the world in eliminating HIV as a public health threat with a focus for the next decade on early attainment of genuine universal access to treatment, care and support. 

Key Objectives

• Strengthen transparency and coordination among stakeholders.
• Create an enabling environment for management.
• Provide innovative warehouse management solutions, including support to the MMU in developing its performance management and evaluation as well as procurement capacity.
• Improve inventory and control systems, and logistics management information systems at all five levels of health care in the country.
• Help to develop capacity in rolling forecasts and supply plans.
• Provide an efficient enabling platform for LMIS to be fully aligned with the overarching MOH MIS strategy
• Select and use high-quality, cost-effective, rational drugs and enforce adherence to all applicable standards, guidelines and policies

  
  

  
  

  Activities and Impact

  
  Inventory control:  SCMS continues to support the operations management of the Annex warehouse with an ongoing full-time transfer of skills by SCMS technical staff co-locating and jointly managing MMU operations. We had established a warehouse management system in which ordering, receiving and updating records form part of the inventory tracking system with use of barcoding systems and radio frequency (RF) scanners.   

  
  

  Facility level inventory management assessment: SCMS has visited 110 health facilities in all 10 regions of Guyana to conduct a facility inventory management assessment for strengthening facility-level inventory management and reporting.  This will help maintain alignment with the standards achieved at the central-level MMU warehouse in order to ensure health commodity availability at all 360 health facilities in the country.

  
  

  Performance management: SCMS has developed an internal performance management strategic framework to facilitate aggregation of M&E data from the field level to the overall project level. Using this framework, we provide support and assistance to the MMU in integrating and developing its own performance management plan.  Establishing key performance indicators and benchmarks for performance metric helps support the continued improvement of the MMU and also form the basis for a sustainable M&E plan that the MOH can use over the long term.

  
  

  Warehousing and storage: We provide technical support and supervision of  the state-of-the-art warehousing facility for all pharmaceuticals and medical supplies in a one fit-for-purpose facility. 
  

  
  

  Forecasting and demand planning: SCMS helped develop national-level forecasting and supply planning of ARVs, rapid test kits, lab reagents and test kits for blood safety to ensure supply plans accuracy. We trained personnel from the MOH programs to take the lead in this effort at the national and programmatic levels.