Country Overview

SCMS supports the Government of Namibia’s efforts by helping to strengthen and enhance national supply chains for HIV/AIDS commodities—and support building new ones where needed—in order to ensure long-term sustainability of distribution systems.

Key Objectives

• Strengthen the supply chain systems for HIV/AIDS commodities.
• Enhance existing systems to promote information sharing.
• Improve procurement management systems.

Activities and Impact

Warehousing: SCMS submitted to the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS) an analysis of ARV space needs at the Central Medical Stores (CMS) in response to a request from the MoHSS chief pharmacist. We analyzed current space needs, projected future needs and submitted considerations for implementating the recent WHO antiretroviral treatment recommendations from a supply chain viewpoint. The recommendations help promote the consideration of the supply chain in policy matters and increase awareness of resources made available to CMS.

Food-by prescription distribution: The Primary Health Care Directorate (PHC)/Food & Nutrition Unit of the MoHSS has developed a policy for distributing therapeutic food for moderately and severely malnourished adults and children. However, the policy does not include supply management for large volumes of commodities. The Unit manager recognized the need for commodity management and invited SCMS, the World Food Program and the Central Medical Stores to help. This collaboration resulted in a storage space assessment for distribution of therapeutic food to sites that will distribute or store therapeutic foodstuffs. The assessment was completed for several pilot sites, and early indications suggest that space and human resources are inadequate to manage food products. SCMS worked with MoHSS to find a suitable short-term warehouse solution for storing ready-to-use therapeutic food ordered by PHC in anticipation of the program launch.

Stores Management Improvement: SCMS revamped the ARV central stores of the Namibia Institute of Pathology (NIP) in preparation for an accreditation process with South African National Accreditation Systems which is affiliated with international accreditation bodies. The current warehouse, a temporary space that NIP would like to use long-term, had become disorganized due to its temporary use. SCMS hired personnel and re-organized the space by moving goods into clear-cut rows and aisles and labeled shelves and areas of the warehouse. The re-organization and ‘de-junking’ of the warehouse (i.e., removing damaged/expired products and cleaning out empty boxes and broken equipment), resulted in significantly improved use of the available space.

Storage: SCMS has conducted training on storage of home-based care (HBC) kits and supplies to HBC coordinators for faith-based organizations (FBOs). During previous supervision visits, SCMS concluded that HBC kit storage was unsatisfactory and put the products in the kit at risk for damage or loss. This training provided the opportunity to discuss basic storage principles and quality assurance with the FBO coordinators. During the training, we also demonstrated the use of safety pill boxes procured for sub-grantees.