Innovating Solutions to Maximise Project Impact
Beyond Logistics was excited about this project. One of Uganda’s problems in health care provision is the availability of essential medicines in government-run Health Facilities (HFs).
Under this project, National Medical Stores (NMS), the government organization whose mandate is to supply medicines across the country, launched a pilot project model to distribute vaccines to 180 HFs in Nakaseke, Nakasongola and Wakiso districts in 16 months. The project focused on vaccines delivery to enable the vaccination of all children below 5 years in the HFs under the pilot.
This challenge was stimulating to Beyond Logistics Ltd (BLL), whose team saw it as an opportunity to make an impact on desperate mothers. By ensuring that vaccines are available as and when needed by mothers, BLL embraced the opportunity to participate in changing the narrative for mothers whose children suffered or even died from immunisable diseases.
Meeting the client’s needs while making an impact in the affected communities came with unique challenges. Throughout the 16 months of project implementation, BLL had to innovate to maximise impact and ensure successful project implementation.
The problem: How do we achieve equitable allocation of vaccines to all health facilities to achieve 100% immunization coverage among children under five (5) years of age?
BLL’s solution: Innovation to strengthen existing structures
- Introducing batch order processing and GPS route planned distribution of all vaccine antigens from DVS to HFs within 7 days after NMS delivery, monthly.
- Strengthening vaccine inventory record keeping.
- Regular ordering by Health Facilities (HFs) and district vaccine stores (DVS)
The problem: How do we eliminate vaccine spoilage from NMS to the health facilities?
BLL’s solution: Set up and manage complex programmes as well as designing and implementing systems to manage both dry and cold chain supplies through the entire procurement and distribution supply chain. Further, BLL:
- Ensured vaccine quality by maintaining the cold chain between 2-80 C during distribution.
- Developed procedures to improve end to end supply chain visibility.
- Sourced and implemented a web-based and GPS-aided Logistics Management Information System (LMIS) to maximise the storage and distribution process.
- Provided real time inventory, ordering, fulfilment, route planning and reporting functionality to users at HF and DVS level.
- Ensured dashboard reporting and visibility for supervisors at the central level.
The Problem: How do we handle emergency orders and eliminate stock-outs without escalating costs to our client?
BLL’s solution: We developed a system for handling emergency orders without cost escalations and thus remained within the project budget line and further:
- Ensured no stock outs because of under ordering and unplanned outreach activities.
- Proactively coordinated with all relevant stakeholders to obtain their input and manage any issues that arose.
- Developed and circulated a delivery schedule to all HFs.
At the end of the pilot project, the end line report published by Clinton Health Access Initiative, showed that:
– District delivery of vaccines to HFs increased from 4% at baseline to 97%
– Stock availability of vaccines increased from 54% to 85%
– Average stockout days reduced from 16 to 10 days.
– Cold chain functionality improved from 92% to 96%
– Availability of fridge tags within functional fridges increased from 75% to 92%
– Health facilities reported conducting physical counts, up from 4% to 75%
– The delivery schedule we developed enabled 97% of HFs received, instead of picking vaccine deliveries, from the district, compared to 4% at baseline.
