Country Overview
An SCMS regional distribution center (RDC) in Centurion (Gauteng province) supplies essential HIV/AIDS drugs and other commodities to Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
South Africa has one of the highest rates of HIV infection in the world, with 5.5 million people living with HIV/AIDS. Of this number, about 700,000 people are currently receiving antiretroviral treatment (ART). The Government of South Africa has come up with the National Strategic Plan 2007-2011 (NSP), whose primary aims are to reduce the number of new HIV infections by 50% and expanding access to appropriate treatment, care and support to 80% of all people diagnosed with HIV.
SCMS has a strong presence in South Africa. We have a field office in Pretoria, and South Africa’s Pharmaceutical Healthcare Distributors (PHD), a subsidiary of SCMS partner Fuel Africa Logistics, holds and delivers medical supplies and drugs to distribution hubs across the region. Partner North-West University provides drug quality assurance, laboratory and regulatory consultancy services for the project. Also, an SCMS regional distribution center (RDC) in Centurion (Gauteng province) supplies essential HIV/AIDS drugs and other commodities to Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. As these countries scale up their HIV/AIDS programs, the RDC can help to ensure a rapid and reliable supply of essential medicines and other products.
Key Objectives
- Share Information: Improve the reporting of information from within provinces and into national reporting systems.
- Build capacity: Improve the capacity and capability of personnel involved in the supply chain management of pharmaceuticals and the improvement of provincial warehouses.
- Procurement and distribution: Identify and pursue opportunities to procure drug commodities to meet scale-up requirements.
Activities and Impact
Value of commodities delivered as of January 2009: Over $577,000
Procurement: The SCMS field office in South Africa procures ARVs for the South African National Defense Force (SANDF) and is now procuring a regularly scheduled supply with strict adherence to delivery deadlines. To date, SCMS has responded to an emergency ARV request from the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA), two emergency ARV requests from the Free State Province and have also responded to ARV inquiries from the
Western Cape and Mpumalanga Provinces.
Capacity building: Since May 2008, SCMS has been sponsoring participants from all the provinces in South Africa to attend the Warehouse Operations Management (WOM) course conducted at PHD to provide managers with skills in warehouse planning and management. It is a 4-week course which is also attended by international participants. To date 24 participants from South Africa have attended the course and given testimony to the practical usefulness of the course.
