Supply chain & logistics

All topics related to immunization supply chain and logistics, including vaccine forecasting and supply planning, distribution systems, vaccine management, vaccine wastage, and waste management.

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Les systèmes nationaux de logistique vaccinale, conçus au départ dans les années 80, sont aujourd’hui confrontés à une véritable révolution qui se décline sous les aspects suivants : Gamme plus étendue de vaccins et diversité plus grande des stratégies de prestation de services Solarisation et d...
As a relative newcomer to the EPI supply chain world, but not to healthcare supply chain I have always struggled with some of the terminology. One term in particular bugs me. And not just because I can be a bit pedantic but because its genuninely confusing: the term "inventory management" when used...
Imagine that VVM’s do not exist. As an alternative a tiny electronic device could be developed which would record the temperature history of the vaccine vial. The device would be attached to the vial and graphically display the temperature history of the vaccine. If a health worker wanted to know ho...
Blockchain is the hot new technology topic in the financial world, the health sector, and the supply chain industry. The idea, first applied by the virtual “cryptocurrency” Bitcoin, combines the security of cryptography with the safety of distributed data. This combination results in distributed led...
I am really interested in the potential benefits that blockchain technology could bring to immunization. There have been many discussions on vaccine packaging and barcoding as I can recall, and I was wondering if blockchain technology was mentioned (or even central now!) during those discussions, an...
Dear viewers We wish to share the attached revised version vaccine storage code in the new model of Ice Lined Refrigerator, supplied recently to the planning units in Karnataka and India. Karnataka is going to practice soon and we hope the whole country may also follow the same as it is practicable...
Dear Colleagues, Greetings of the day. This is to bring to your kind attention that Empower is organizing its 9th International Workshop on Global Health Procurement and Supply Chain Management, and is scheduled from 18-22 June 2018 in Bangkok, Thailand. The workshop includes sessions with experts...
To ensure that solar direct drive (SDD) appliances can keep vaccines at acceptable temperatures continuously, the installed photovoltaic array often produces excess power that is not used by the primary cooling load and this excess power generally goes unutilized. If this power is to be used, the p...
Green Energy Limited has developed an off-grid solar generator with lithium battery storage backpack. It is designed to provide continuous off-grid electricity to refugees, disaster victims, medical clinics, schools and matches domestic electricity requirement. We have been conducting a project in L...
All, I am trying to solve the following problem... We have small medical teams that travel to remote locations, to deliver vaccines to patients. Many of the routes are through jungle, mountains, dessert, etc and take several hours or longer to reach to destination. The teams use motorbikes, and ...
Measuring Accountability for Last Mile Delivery The Interagency Supply Chain Group (ISG) comprising of 15 global agencies are actively involved in supporting supply chain efforts across all disease areas. The purpose of this group is to provide better coordinated and more effective support to count...
A new PQS freeze protected vaccine carrier has been approved. The incorporation of this new carrier would solve a serious problem but at a considerable cost. PATH estimates that 2 million carriers would have to be replaced. Several years ago we had been working on a freeze protection method which i...
As more low- and middle-income countries explore opportunities to improve their public health supply chains and diagnostics networks, knowing how best to use unmanned aerial systems (UAS) to improve reach in the last mile is critical. Under the inSupply project, JSI Research & Training Institute, In...
Cross-posted from the JSI website with thanks! inSupply, JSI’s regional supply chain consulting center in East Africa, in partnership with Llamasoft and the Nichols Group, recently examined the potential for employing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to deliver life-saving and other commodities with...
Hello everyone, Mozambique, at present, uses only a simple measles vaccine in the Measles Routine for measles prevention.However, with support from GAVI, Mozambique is preparing a campaign against Measles and Rubella for April 2018, then introducing the Measles and Rubella Vaccine into Routine Immu...
PATH’s Freeze-Safe innovation sets a new benchmark, helping protect vaccine potency, reducing health worker burden, and providing cost savings to health systems Seattle, February 7, 2018—This week, the first commercially available freeze-free vaccine carrier will begin introductory field trials in ...
Hi, I am in need of the following items and I am looking for supplier recommendations. Just need a few of each for R&D.   Empty vaccine vials with stoppers Glycol solution for vaccine vials Portable vaccine cooler (used to carry vaccine to remote locations)   Thanks for the help  ...
hello every body Can you please share with me your SOPs for the managment and control of cold rooms. Best regards, Tarek...
Dear TechNet Members, Empower School of Health (ESH), launches the 12th batch of Post-graduate Diploma Course in Global Health PROCUREMENT & SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT, which has been developed in collaboration with Kent State University (KSU). Capacity building in PSM is one of the thrust areas of p...
Dear TechNet community members, Warm greetings! The cold chain situation in many countries is sub-optimal and affects the capacity of national immunization programs to deliver potent vaccines to all women and children.To help improve this situation, the Gavi Board approved the Cold Chain Equipment ...
Nous avons le plaisir de vous informer que le Centre LOGIVAC organise la Formation en Chaîne de Froid Solaire, du 12 au 17 février 2018. Les dossiers d’inscription seront reçus jusqu’au 30 janvier 2018. Délivrée entièrement en présentiel à destination des agents de maintenance et logisticiens du PE...
Dear TechNet community members, Happy New Year! We’d like to wish you all the best that life has to offer: health, peace and joy! Welcoming 2018, we are excited to announce that the TechNet-21 Resources Page on National Logistic Working Groups (NLWGs) has just been launched. The NLWG Resources Page...
 I am setting up an alarm to indicate to high a temperature in a vaccine refrigerator.  I would appreciate it if someone could tell me the reccomended temperature and the time that  temperature must be maintained to set off the alarm?   My second question is if you what that time and temperature...
AWAY WITH THE DOGMA! 1: “Monitoring Closed Vial Wastage”   This is the first Blog in a series to encourage vaccine supply chain planners to consider changes without being constrained by some, dogmatic operational policies of the Expanded Program on Immunization. Taking one issue at a time I shall ...
IAPHL are debating the agenda for their next Webinar. Some are suggesting a focus on aspects of logistics integration for CD and NCD programs. For me, this is the 'Elephant-in-the-room' of future distribution strategy for country health pogrammes. Incorporating the distribution of vaccines and the f...
The IPM Project (funded by the Gates Foundation and "MSD for Mothers" - Merck - and implemented by the Senegalese Ministry of Health with technical support from Intrahealth International) managed to cross the "Death Valley" where many projects die after successful pilot phases. Indeed, since October...
Dear Technet members, I would like to share my thoughts on the temperature monitoring devices and thermostal for vaccine refrigeration system. In the early days of EPI, temperature of the refrigerator was measured and displayed by a simple analogue thermometer which was either a bi-metal or stem t...
This is the fifth and last topic in my six-part Vaccine Supply Chain Futures series focused on the potential to address safety issues related to the management of sharps waste including syringe and needles. Progress of efforts to achieve safe infectious sharps disposal in many low to middle income ...
This is the fourth topic in my six-part Vaccine Supply Chain Futures series (Please see the attached file for the full text)  focused on the introduction of a system of remote temperature monitoring integrated with equipment maintenance management. Remote temperature monitoring systems represent an...
This is the third topic in my six-part Vaccine Supply Chain Futures series, and concerns changes in vaccines and the technology of administration of vaccines. No change in supply chain technologies can impact immunization coverage more than change in the presentation and administration of vaccines ...
This is the second topic in my six-part Vaccine Supply Chain Futures series, and concerns advancing technologies of cooled-distribution. Pleae share your thoughts! What advances in technology and technique--available now or in the near future--that are likely to be critical success factors for the ...
Friends and Family of Immunization, I hope you will join me over the next six weeks before the TechNet Conference in Portugal to debate important futures for the vaccine supply chain. Each week, I will start a discussion on a topic and ask for your reactions. If you participate, you will also have t...
Improving supply chain data visibility and data use are showing real impact in Tanzania's integrated logistics system. A study has just been published in the peer-reviewed journal Global Health: Science and Practice Global Health: Science and Practice Advance Access articles for September 6, 2017 ...
Dear Members, Greetings. Empower is organizing the International Workshop on Global Health Procurement and Supply Chain in Conflict and Fragile States, scheduled from 20-23 Nov in Dubai, UAE. Key objectives of the workshop: To provide participants with a clear understanding of the critical nee...
Dear colleagues,  Please find attached from the Interagency Supply Chain Group.  Kind regards,  Hitesh  Coordinator for the Interagency Supply Chain Group (ISG)       Hitesh HurkchandInteragency Supply Chain GroupHosted by the World Health Organization Mobile: +1.917.975.9743 [WhatsApp, Vibe...
Dear colleagues, Please find attached from the Interagency Supply Chain Group. Kind regards,HiteshCoordinator for the Interagency Supply Chain Group (ISG)   Hitesh HurkchandInteragency Supply Chain GroupHosted by the World Health OrganizationMobile: +1.917.975.9743 [WhatsApp, Viber]Skype: hitesh...
WHO and UNICEF have just published a new evidence brief on solar direct-drive (SDD) vaccine refrigerators and freezers. It includes case studies from Tanzania, Colombia and Kenya, as well as an overview of SDD technology and how to make sure that SDD technology is the right choice. Here's the link: ...
Dear Friends, This week, we have seen two patients with diphtheria in our district Bilaspur in chhattisgarh. One was a 6 year old boy from Kharasiya village who came sick to the regional medical college with heart failure and inability to swallow liquids. He could not get the much needed Anti dipht...
Dear viewers Short supply of vaciines requiring multiple doses is one of the causes of accentuating negeative dropout rate, making the indicator invalid for programme review. India introduced two fractional doses of 0.1mL intra-dermal IPV in the National Immunization Schedule (NIS) since April 201...
Dear viewers Sharing the following with the viewers who are the true Polio Eradicators / planners / managers / authorized implementers & policy makers of the programme Good intentions alone are not enough for the successful outcome. Intention of healing is always good but it can produce stricture ...
We are happy to announce the latest version of the Total Cost of Ownership tool for cold chain equipment (v1.4) is now available to download and use. If you have been using an earlier version of the tool, please download the latest version from the link below.   Version 1.4 includes filters for CCE...
Port Vila, 14 June 2017: The Vanuatu Government will make history today by launching what may be the first ever trial in the Pacific to test the capacity, efficiency and effectiveness of drones to deliver lifesaving vaccines to inaccessible remote communities in Vanuatu. Vanuatu will test Remotely ...
Vaccine carrier and Cold box selection tool. Dear Cold Chain colleagues, UNICEF SD has developed a tool which makes the process of selecting Vaccine Carriers or Cold Boxes easier. Please follow the below link to the UNICEFCold chain support package and click on the tab 7. Vaccine Carriers and Col...
Dear viewers - sharing the following for needful Universally it is very well known that vaccination is one of the most cost effective public health programme from control to eradication of Vaccine Preventable diseases. Public sector is provided with proper cold chain equipments, periodic training ...
Dear Colleagues, I trust this post finds you all very well! I would be grateful if you could please provide (based on your experiences), the possible sources (misuse, VVM, expiry, breakage, etc.) and rate of occurrence of close vial vaccine wastage at the lowest distribution and service delivery l...
Dear viewers - Please find the following and the attached illustration for a critical review and needful. Background: CCH Mrs Anitha Beth and Asst CCH Mr Mukesh could not believe when the author shared his observations that the “T” series vaccines were found in “Frozen” condition at the session si...
I’ve been reading with great interest the most recent issue of Vaccine, which is dedicated to “Building Next-Generation Immunization Supply Chains”. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/0264410X/35/17 I particularly enjoyed the following article but was surprised to read that the authors i...
Dear Members, Greetings from Empower School of Health! We would like to inform you that Empower is organizing the 2ND INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP ON GLOBAL HEALTH ISSUES / ACCESS TO MEDICINES in collaboration with the World Health Organization in Geneva. The workshop cum study tour is scheduled from 03...
Over the last decade, the technology environment in developing countries has changed significantly, offering new opportunities to strengthen and automate information systems throughout the health system. Health system supply chains in many countries are leveraging this changed environment, with digi...
Dear All: how can we conduct study of cold room temperature mapping and how to analyse the data collected?...
Dear Technet Followers: Is there a universal recommendation for the distance a refrigerator should be from the wall. I have seen 1 foot, 10cm, 300mm, and 50mm on different documents from different partners. Thanks, Carla ...
Hi All, PATH Senegal Office had proceeded last year a field evaluation of Sure Chill’s long-term passive device for the use of cold storage of vaccines in Senegal and provides important feedback in terms of thermal performance, end-user inputs, and perceptions at the Ministry of Health of the poten...
JSI is proud to announce the launch of a new flagship publication, The Supply Chain Manager’s Handbook, this time in a new website format. Based on more than 30 years of experience improving public health supply chains in more than 60 countries, The Supply Chain Manager’s Handbook is also informed...
Bonjour Le Niger a entrepris en 2016 avec l'aide de ses partenaires la cartographie de la température dans ses Chambres froides. Nous avons beaucoup appris de cette expérience notamment sur : - La cartographie de toutes les chambres froides qu'elles soient anciennes ou nouvelles - Le réglage de l...
We are working with ILRs. While daily operations, it was found that there is formation of water droplets inside the device. We want to measure the amount of condensation taking place inside the device in a day. We also tried to calculate the Dew Point Temperature but not much useful. Kindly sugge...
Dear All Please help solving this problem in EVM assessment tool. I am unable to use tick box options in electronic version of assessment tool. Please help. Sincerely, Sarad...
Knowing the problem of vaccines being frozen because of too cold ice-packs. What about freezers that does not get colder that minus 5'C...
Immunization programs in low-income countries are facing the most ambitious targets of the last four decades: reach every child with existing and many new vaccines. The original immunization supply chains (iSCs) design, put in place in the 1970’s, is struggling to exceed an 80% coverage rate and is ...
Happy new year all, We are happy to announce that the latest version of the Total Cost of Ownership tool for cold chain equipment (v1.3) is now available to download and use. The latest version has a few minor changes to the presentation of data as well as the latest PQS pre-qualified equipment as ...
Posting by: David W Brown, Brown Consulting Group International, LLC, North Carolina, USA Marta Gacic-Dobo, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland The WHO and UNICEF recommend that immunization programmes order and supply vaccines bundled with safe-injection equipment (e.g., diluents, aut...
Hello, I was recently introduced to this site. I am very interested in supply chain management and logistics of health commodities and was wondering if anyone knew of an online course (preferably free) I could take to enhance my knowledge? I'd appreciate suggestions. Thanks....
Dear Members, Empower wishes you all a very Happy New Year. Empower School of Health (ESH), is organizing another 5 day face-to-face International Certificate Course on Ensuring Product Quality in Procurement and Supply Chain of Health Commodities, scheduled from 20th February to 24th February 201...
Dear members and viewers of technet viewers We wish to share the following and hope to achieve something by clearing the backlog of infants accumulated for receving 1st and 2nd doses of fractional doses of 0.1mL IPV intradermally, sice April 2016. For curative service providers CPM stands for Chlor ...
Dear All, We are pleased to inform you that the following individual consultancy has been advertised through UNICEF’s on-line Talent Management system: Consultant Case Studies Requisition No: 502179 UNICEF is seeking to develop country case studies on implementation of HR strengthening/capacity ...
When it comes to medical supplies, transport challenges can add up to serious gaps in health care for rural people. That’s why John Snow, Inc., through the USAID | DELIVER PROJECT partnered with Medical Stores Department (MSD) in Tanzania to map more than 30,000 kilometers of road connecting more th...
Dear Health supply chain practitioner, To allow IAPHL to better serve the public health supply chain community we are undergoing a global update of our membership database. Whether you are a current member or wish to become an IAPHL member, we would like you to fill out our Member Update Survey bel...
Dear TechNet members, I'm putting together a document on the performance of solar direct-drive (SDD) vaccine refrigerators and would like to request your assistance. If you have experience of SDD projects in the field I would be very grateful if you could share your thoughts on how well they have pe...
Does anyone have experience with vaccine passive storage devices in the field? We are piloting the PQS pre-qualified Arktek device in three rural health centers. By design, the device maintains a temperature range between 0°C and 10°C which will not freeze the vaccines so should not pose any risk to...
Dear TechNet-21 Members, we invite you to follow a moderated discussion just getting started on the International Association of Public Health Logisticians (IAPHL) listserve. You can join the IAHPL, follow the conversation, or sign up for emails here: https://knowledge-gateway.org/iaphl/ We hope yo...
Vaccines can tolerate temperatures above 8 deg C however temperatures below 0 deg C will freeze a vaccine and it will lose it’s efficacy. At temperatures above 8 deg C the life of a vaccine will be lowered but the exposure will not be catastrophic. For the most sensitive vaccine, VVM II, the life of...
Dear all, I would like to share with you a position statement from the Immunization Practices Advisory Committee (IPAC) on the Controlled Temperature Chain (CTC) and the use of vaccines out of cold chain (OCC). This statement has been prepared by the CTC working group, which has been established un...
At B Medical Systems we have received lately more and more complaints about RCW50EG, absorption type vaccine refrigerator / ice pack freezer, that stopped working or never started working correctly. The largest complaint came from the EPI in Kenya with 200 X RCW50EG not working. The RCW50EG and the ...
Dear TechNet Community, WHO and UNICEF are pleased to announce the release of a new Joint Statement on Achieving immunization targets with the comprehensive effective vaccine management (EVM) framework. This statement uncovers the cornerstone to the WHO-UNICEF immunization supply chain strategy to...
Dear Colleagues, Could you please share any links for documents (regulations or guidelines) where disscussed measuring interval for refrigerated truck monitoring systems (print-paper loggers). Оr please share practice in your country. Thank you in advance, Regards...
For your reading pleasure (and viewing since there is a 1 minute video)...
Dear I like to share with you in this space a video about the instalation, basic maintenance and operation of one of the solar equipments with PQS that are installed in my country (Colombia), nowadays we have 300 equipments in operation. Best regards ...
Dear friends, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is very pleased to present the Cold Chain Equipment ‘Technology Guide’, to support the appropriate selection of modern, efficient and reliable technologies. Download the guide here. Identifying the most appropriate equipment choices for each health facility ...
Most ice-lined refrigerators in India are fully functional at 5 - 45 degrees Celsius (ie, they are able to maintain an internal temperature of 2-8 degrees Celsius when the external temperatures are between 5 and 45 degrees Celsius). Some states of India have an extremely cold climate during winters ...
The WHO UNICEF immunization Supply Chain Hub (iSC Hub)has released a new temperature monitoring website hosted on TechNet-21. A stringent system for temperature surveillance is essential to maintain the quality of the vaccines in an effective Supply Chain. By preventing vaccine exposure to freezing...
Interesting study from Turkey aimed at providing an approach to determine the best temperature monitoring system for vaccine storage in a warehouse. AbstractCold chain management is a specific part of supply chain management. Cold chain managementdeal with products that should be transported and st...
Sharing the news of an article publish in Vaccine on the impact of system design in Niger. Abstract Objective To evaluate the potential impact and value of applications (e.g. ordering levels, storage capacity, transportation capacity, distribution frequency) of data from demand forecasting syst...
Following the success of the first training session in December, 2015 on the use of the MULTiLOG2 Remonsys Ltd is planning to run a second training session in August this year. Purpose and Objectives of the Course The objective of this course is to equip delegates with the ability to install, conf...
Hello everyone, We will in a few days to install the MultiLog 2 central cold chain in Madagascar. We have all the equipment and installation guide. What is missing is a positioning guide of temperature sensors inside the cold rooms. If you have this information, thank you to share to me. On ou...
Thanks to the flexibility of the TechNet-21 website, I can share two older (circa 1985) collections of densely technical and highly practical equipment maintenance documents developed by WHO using the TechNet Resource Library (TRL). Once only available in hardcopy or in a digital corner of the onlin...
Great study on off-label use of HepB vaccine out of the cold chain and how this help raise HepB birth dose coverage by almost 30% without any safety or adverse reaction reported.It does feel that we really don’t make full use of VVMs!!! Hepatitis B vaccine stored outside the cold chain setting: a p...
I have struggled unsuccessfully to link this message to a remark made by Soren Spanner a week or two ago asking whether anyone has tried to distribute vaccine to remote sites by drone? I'm surprised that a debate on this subject has not yet reached TECHNET. Luckily the global debate seems healthy! T...
Dear TechNet Colleagues,   I would like to share with you a report on our latest cold chain maintenance investigation in Mozambique: "Why Fridges Fail Part 2: RTM Data for Maintenance". We are beginning to document how remote temperature monitoring data and dashboards can be used by maintenance t...
WHO has just released a new infographic that summarises how health workers can use vaccine vial monitors (VVMs) to decide whether or not to use a vaccine vial. Most notably, it presents VVM colour change as a continuous progression, rather than as four distinct stages. A VVM is a chemical indicat...
We are delighted to announce the creation of the Cold Chain Equipment management page on TechNet. -->you can access the page by clicking here or through the “Resources” drop down menu on the top right of your screen Resulting from thorough collaboration between technical assistance providers, this...
Over the last two decades, increased investments in health have yieldedsignificant gains in health outcomesfor tens of millions of people around the world. At the same time, economic growth has raised hundreds of millions out of extreme poverty and helped fuel a vast expansion in information technol...
Dear Technet Colleagues, Around the world a variety of professionals are involved in 'health supply chains' (the supply chain responsible for moving medicines and medical equipment from manufacture to the patient). In some countries these are professional logistics and supply chain personnel. In ot...
Among the TECHNET postings on cold-chain equipment there are embedded remarks pointing towards the need to make vaccine refrigeration simpler and less expensive to procure, more responsive to energy changes and easier to use and maintain. For example, to choose a refrigerator now current WHO, UNICEF...
In cooperation with the Uganda Ministry of Health, PATH recently conducted a pilot study to document equipment failures in the Uganda National Expanded Programme on Immunization cold chain. Due to our use of purposeful sampling to locate a subset of failed cold chain equipment in Uganda, conclusion...
an interview with MIT’s UAV vaccine delivery team Earlier this year, Dr. George Barbastathis and five graduate students—Nikhil Vadhavkar, Adam Pan, Vyas Ramanan, Andrew Warren, and Justin Lee—from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) were awarded $100,000 by the Bill & Melinda Gate...
Dear Colleagues: We are pleased to circulate the 2nd Global Analysis of Effective Vaccine Management (EVM), 2009-2014. To date, 82 countries have conducted EVM assessments between 2009-2014, of which 26 countries have conducted the assessment twice. The slide deck follows the same format as the 1s...
Dear viewers Context: India in collaboration with development partners like WHO/UNICEF/USAID/MCHIP etc has made remarkable advances in the last ten years: introduction of Measles 2nd dose, HepB vaccine including Birth dose vaccine, JE 2 doses, Pentavalent vaccine, year 2012-13 declared as year of ...
A recent article on vaccine wastage from the International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health http://www.ijcmph.com/?mno=214575 Abstract Background: India released its first National Vaccine Policy in 2011. The country is presently developing new strategies to increase immunization...
From today's Guardian Health workers face suspicion and a lack of cold storage as they test the Ebola vaccine http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/mar/10/ebola-vaccine-trial-sierra-leone-fear-logistics-immunisations Dr Tamba Manye, who works for the World Health Organisation (WHO) i...
In case this new article published in Applied Energy is of interest http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261916302793 AbstractAn intermittent solar adsorption refrigerator can supply cold needed in third world countries, especially for vaccine and medicine preservation. This paper...
Interesting paper on system design in Nigeria from Health Affairs. Abstract One of the major problems facing Nigeria’s vaccine supply chain is the lack of adequate vaccine storage facilities. Despite the introduction of solar-powered refrigerators and the use of new tools to monitor supply levels,...
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