May 12 2011
LogisticsWeek looks at how "PEPFAR's Supply Chain Management System (SCMS), a project made up of 13 health and development institutions working to procure and provide quality essential medicines at affordable prices," has been able to assist countries in quickly scaling up HIV/AIDS treatment.
"Before PEPFAR, procurement of public health HIV commodities in targeted countries was a transactional, one-off event, with each purchase treated as a separate activity, with little or no connection to national health strategy and patient needs," John Crowley, chief of the Supply Chain Management Division in USAID's Bureau for Global Health, said, adding, "Poor coordination often led to redundancies and gaps in service," LogisticsWeek reports.
SCMS, established in 2005, "provides an uninterrupted supply of quality and affordable essential medicines; knowledge, skills, and technology transfer; and global collaboration with other stakeholders. The activity provided more than 600 technical assistance assignments which have been completed in 25 countries," according to the article. In addition, "SCMS provides enough ARVs to support well over half of the 3.2 million people on treatment through PEPFAR."
The story describes how SCMS keeps up with demand and changes in treatment recommendations, brings down the cost of medications by taking advantage of competitive pricing and shipping, and connects country programs to a global strategy (5/10).
 This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
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