Supply Chain Operations

Accurate forecasting and supply planning (FASP) is critical to ensure the availability of lifesaving commodities and to optimize limited development partner and government funds. However, FASP is a historically inefficient and manual process with results of often questionable quality. FASP is ripe for innovation which Chemonics has brought through more data-driven, automated tools and approaches. 

The Zambia Medicines and Medical Supplies Agency (ZAMMSA) is responsible for distribution of essential health commodities to public health facilities in Zambia. In ZAMMSA warehouses, transportation planning is just one step in a complex set of logistics processes that ensure essential health commodities get from warehouses to the public health facilities which order them. In planning outbound transportation, ZAMMSA staff relied on historical experience and intuition to make these decisions. Manual processes led to underused trucks, higher costs, frustrated staff, and often delayed or incomplete deliveries.  

Effective and efficient viral load testing is critical to diagnose and initiate treatment for people living with HIV (PLHIV). Low- and middle-income Countries (LMICs) with a high HIV burden faced underutilized diagnostic instruments that were poorly maintained, and lacked a coordinated network strategy, with inconsistent service contracts further compounding operational inefficiencies. Further, the U.S. Government sought to better leverage its market position as a primary procurement agent of laboratory equipment, reagents, and consumables to LMICs as procurement efforts were fragmented with significant cost variability across countries.