Country Highlights
Uganda has made great progress in tackling HIV epidemic. Held by many international organizations as a model of how public health education programs can succeed, much has been done to change HIV-related behaviors to reduce new infection. Adult HIV prevalence stood at 6.7% in 2006. Uganda’s strategy includes strong public commitment, education, and policy that recognize HIV/AIDS as a threat to development, as well as citizen’s health across the country.
Uganda’s supply chain is comprised of a large number of owners and separate systems which includes the Ministry of Health, as well as faith-based and non-governmental organizations. An effective approach to improving the conditions of Uganda’s supply chains must take into account a landscape of many multi-sector stakeholders with varied capacities and approaches to coordination.
During summer 2007, SCMS spearheaded a workshop for Uganda’s key public and private stakeholders, as well as international donors and NGOs, to collaborate on a logistics system strategic plan. Participants brainstormed on identifying the key themes of the strengths and weaknesses of Uganda’s supply chains. The workshop helped participants share information on broader activities to improve health commodity logistics in Uganda, and culminated in a logical framework analysis where strategic logistics goals and objectives were drafted.
Working with agencies of the Ministry of Health, SCMS’s key objectives in Uganda are:
- Information Sharing – Help organizations harmonize procurement efforts so accurate information is collected and shared to drive coordinated, cost-effective decision-making
- Capacity Building – Develop skills in warehousing and distribution, site-level management, and quantification, as well as build capacity in the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda to manage antiretrovirals (ARVs) and OI drug logistics.
- Procurement and Distribution – Provide guidance on improved warehousing and distribution in the public sector at the National Medical Stores.
Value of commodities delivered as of September 2008: Over $900,000
Progress to date:
• SCMS and Inter-Religious Council of Uganda (IRCU) are working together to collect data to closely monitor patients’ adherence in using ARVs. SCMS assisted IRCU in the quantification of needs and procured a sufficient amount of ARVs to help IRCU scale up from zero people on treatment to 1,500 in year one (2007/8) of operation. SCMS continues to support IRCU in year two to reach 5,000 clients.
• In September 2007, SCMS began the facility level roll out training for the re-designed antiretroviral therapy logistics system. Health representative from half of the country have been successfully trained, and plans have been made to complete training with the new order/delivery schedule.
• SCMS has provided technical assistance to the Joint Medical Store to restructure its warehouse management and financial system. The state-of-the-art Warehouse Management Information System (MACS) and the SAGE Financial system were installed and technical assistance provided in their use. The new sysyem employs Hand Held Terminals in combination with Radio Frequency (Rf) which transmit data remotely from the warehouse to the database as a central location. The new system went LIVE on September 8, 2008.
• SCMS is providing technical assistance to the National Medical Stores in a number of areas including the assessment of warehouse operations. Business process re-engineering is on-going. The Ministry of Health has been asked to work with other development partners alongside of SCMS to implement the recommendations of the assessment.
