Country Overview
Today, Tanzania’s antiretroviral treatment (ART) program has reached more than 290,000 patients, compared to 1,500 at program launch.
The Government of Tanzania began providing care and treatment services including the provision of antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) in October 2004. Ninety-six sites were selected and by December 2005, 23,951 patients were on ART. Since its launch, the Tanzanian National Care and Treatment Program (NCTP) has experienced rapid scale-up and growth. By the end of 2009, it was estimated that 287,183 patients were accessing ART services. As of May 2010, 909 approved sites now provide HIV /AIDS care and treatment services under the national system
In addition to the procurement of medicines, SCMS also implements logistics and health commodity supply chain strengthening technical assistance in support of the national HIV/AIDS program. This includes the field-based "early warning system" work of the supply chain Monitoring Teams who visit zonal and regional care and treatment centers to monitor ordering, provide on-the-job training for commodity ordering and redistribute commodities as necessary. SCMS has also helped to design and provide continued support in managing the ARV and HIV test kit logistics system. Preparations for designing a laboratory logistics system are underway which is expected to be in place at the end of 2010.
SCMS also maintains the Service Delivery Point Database which houses logistics data for the national ARV distribution system. SCMS partners with the Medical Stores Department (MSD) to strengthen the warehousing capacity for the national system and is in the final stages of replacing an enhanced Enterprise Resource Planning system at the MSD to strengthen the warehouse inventory, financial and human resource management, as well as planning capacity.
In the area of partner coordination, SCMS serves as the technical secretariat and host for the quantification and procurement coordination committee. SCMS coordinates procurement and supply chain decision-making with in-country partners such as the National AIDS Control Program , Japan International Cooperation Agency, and the Clinton Foundation.
Key Objectives
- Product Availability: Improve product availability by reducing the number of stockouts of selected ARVs, OIs, lab reagents and HIV test kits at all levels of the public health supply chain.
- Build capacity: Strengthen the capacity of the central Ministry of Health to collect and analyze data, and to quantify needs.
- Infrastructure improvement: Strengthen and improve the capacity of the MSD to more effectively store and distribute HIV/AIDS related commodities.
- Human resource capacity building: Build the capacity of staff working at care and treatment sites through courses, on the job training and mentoring to optimize the effectiveness of redesigned logistics systems.
- Information management: Strengthen data visibility for informed decision-making by making timely and complete data available at all levels of the supply chain.
- Client Satisfaction: Achieve client satisfaction by providing knowledge and timely procurement services to meet the dynamic needs of our clients.
- Performance-driven project management: Implement effective project management practices to adequately finance and staff project activities to support client needs.
Activities and Impact
Value of commodities delivered as of June 2010: $53 million
Capacity Building: SCMS has trained 1,884 health care workers through mid 2010 to faciliate effective usage of the ARV and HIV test kit logistics system. The supply chain monitoring team also conducted on-the-job training for 1,953 health care workers during monthly visits to 678 active care and treatment sites.
Mentoring Program: SCMS developed and printed a comprehensive logistics focused toolkit to serve as a guide for mentoring/on-the-job training and encouraging consistency in solving logistics problems at the facilities. The national roll out of the toolkit is scheduled to take place end of 2010.
Forecasting: At the request of Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, SCMS conducted a comprehensive and systematic quantification of laboratory supplies in 2009.
Product Redistribution and Distribution: SCMS provides support to the MSD by conducting physical distribution, redistributions and inter-zonal transfers of HIV/AIDS commodities. Supply Chain Monitoring Advisors (SCMA) support distribution efforts by MSD when their visits coincide with MSD’s distribution to selected sites. Similarly, SCMAs assist in distribution from the district medical officices. When there is a highlighted risk of a stockout or when there is a risk of wastage due to expiries, SCMAs conduct redistributions and inter-zonal transfers between facilities and MSD zones.
Warehouse Infrastructure: SCMS has procured and delivered warehouse equipment (manual conveyors and racks) to improve product picking and packing in preparation for warehouse distribution at both the MSD Ubungo and Mwanza warehouses. This new equipment supports ongoing infrastructure capacity building initiatives at the MSD Mwanza to streamline product picking and packing and increase efficiency of daily operations. SCMS has also procured and delivered a prefabricated warehouse facility (Warehouse-in-a-Box) to increase the infrastructure product storage capacity of the MSD product distribution system.
Procurement: In addition to ARV's, SCMS has undertaken the procurement of drugs for opportunistic infections, food-by-prescription products, home based care kits, and both warehouse equipment and pre-fabricated warehouses. SCMS is also adding water purification products, trucks and male circumcision kits to this portfolio. As of June 2010, SCMS procured over $53 million worth of HIV/AIDS related drugs and products to support national HIV/AIDS care and treatment objectives.
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