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Technology, Artificial Intelligence, and the Public Sector Supply Chain: Challenges and Opportunities
Pamela Steele, Adin Chan, Kaiyan Wang, Virginia Onchiri, Ashpenaz Ayub
Tired of stockouts and inefficiencies crippling healthcare delivery in LMICs? Our detailed publication uncovers AI-powered breakthroughs, including predictive analytics driving KEMSA’s goal of 95% stock availability through integrated systems like iLMIS, drone deliveries by Zipline overcoming rugged rural barriers in counties such as Homa Bay and Nyamira, and e-VIN-inspired inventory management boosting vaccine tracking to over 99% as seen in India’s nationwide rollout, transforming longstandi...
14th August 2025
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Localization of Pharmaceutical Manufacturing in Sub-Saharan Africa
Pamela Steele, Lavender Otieno, Dr Shadrack Opon, Manon Graham, Benjamin Wharton
This study explores the current state and potential of local pharmaceutical manufacturing in Sub-Saharan Africa, highlighting the strategic importance of developing a robust pharmaceutical industry to improve health outcomes and enhance economic resilience. Sub-Saharan Africa faces significant health challenges, including a high burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases, a growing population, and limited access to essential medicines. The region relies on imports for over 70% of its pharmaceuti...
30th August 2024
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The Localisation of the Humanitarian Supply Chain: Global, Kenya, and Nigeria
Pamela Steele, Angus Kingsley-Anderson, Dr Shadrack Opon
Localisation is the journey to the optimal destination for development practitioners: a locally led humanitarian supply chain. This report conceptualises localisation and applies this conceptual framework to the three cases: the global level and two national cases within their regional context, namely, Kenya in East Africa and Nigeria in West Africa. The report aims to recommend policy solutions to the humanitarian challenges facing localisation at a global and national level in all three contexts.
9th August 2024
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Financial Sustainability in Healthcare in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Perspective on Achieving Financial Sustainability for HIV/AIDS Response
Pamela Steele, Michelle Leichum, Dr. Shadrack Opon
The challenge of achieving financial sustainability for healthcare in Sub-Saharan Africa is at a critical juncture, especially in the context of the HIV/AIDS response. The region faces limited domestic resources, fluctuating international aid, and a heavy burden of HIV. This report focuses on actionable strategies to build resilient healthcare systems that can sustain progress in HIV prevention and treatment. Despite significant advancements, Sub-Saharan Africa remains the epicentre of the global HIV epid...
30th June 2024
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The Role of the Health Supply Chain in Facilitating Universal Health Coverage Across East Africa
Pamela Steele, Joanna Nayler, Chloe Curtis, Lise Cazzoli, Jonathan Odingo, Andrey Levitskiy
Improving UHC has been highlighted by the UN as part of SDG 3. This research adopts a broad view of health supply chains and shows how health supply chain management plays a critical role in achieving UHC. It aims to answers these questions: How is the health supply chain facilitating Universal Health Coverage in Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania? What are the health supply chain for Universal Health Coverage best practices that these countries have implemented, and what challenges are they facing?
1st February 2022
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Comparative Study of Pharmaceutical Waste Disposal in Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda
Sophia Iosue
As a report from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC 2011: 34) on hospital health-care waste management (HCWM) states, ‘Only too often, waste management is relegated to the rank of a menial task, whereas it ought to be valued and all actors in a hospital made to realize their share of responsibility’. Although the ICRC report focuses on hospital waste management, the principle of shared responsibility for waste management applies at all levels of the Health Supply Chain, includi...
22nd April 2021
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Covid-19 Health Supply Chain Impact – Preliminary Evidence from Africa
Joanna Nayler, Lakshmy Subramanian
Supply chain preparedness is crucial to overcome any challenges presented by the ongoing pandemic. This study aims to understand the impact of Covid-19 on health supply chains in Africa and the level of preparedness across the various levels. The study methodology includes a desk review of literature and an online questionnaire, which was circulated through multiple channels including the International Association of Public Health Logisticians (IAPHL) platform and the South-South Knowledge Network (SoSo...
16th March 2021
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Africa’s Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Chain and Logistics Readiness
Dr Lakshmy Subramanian and Joanna Nayler
The Covid-19 pandemic has had a devastating human impact and exerted unrelenting pressure on pharma and healthcare supply chains. This study investigates the vaccine logistics and supply chain readiness of various countries, particularly in Africa, to support the immunisation program.
8th March 2021
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Better Enforcement of Anti-Corruption Measures is the Way Forward for Efficient Pharmaceutical Procurement Systems
Lakshmy Subramanian
Corruption is a multi-layered challenge and is not restricted to one level of bureaucracy. It pervades large parts of the state administration and has long-lasting impacts on a country. Failure to penalise the perpetrators creates a general disregard for existing laws. Corruption in procurement defeats the purpose of serving the citizenry and attempts to curb corruption by implementing anti-corruption measures into the procurement procedures can, therefore, appear optimistic in such a setting.
25th November 2020
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Mobile Technology for Data Collection in the Health Supply Chain: Case Studies and Shared Learnings from Low- and Middle-Income Countries
Pamela Steele, Priyanka Raj, Joanna Nayler
Data plays a critical role in the Health Supply Chain and has attracted increasing attention in recent years. The flow of data in LMIC’s is often hindered, and many countries are reliant on burdensome and more inaccurate methods of paper-based data collection. At the same time, mobile technologies are acknowledged as one of the most successful methods of data collection, and the use of mobile technologies is rapidly rising in LMICs; African countries have the fastest growing mobile market in the world. ...
11th November 2020
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Strengthening Health Supply Chain Performance through Robust Costing Methods and Cost-calculating Tools
Pamela Steele
The public sector is still in the nascent stage of linking Supply Chain impacts to its primary goal of effective and efficient health care delivery. Associating a cost to this Supply Chain is even more nascent, as international and bilateral donors, limited in their funds, now request their beneficiaries to show ‘value for money’ for their projects (USAID, GFATM) or ‘pay for performance’ (World Bank). Not surprisingly, the availability of calculating tools for costing the Public Health Supply Chai...
19th October 2020
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Human Resources for Health Supply Chain Transformation: Exploring Common Best Practices in the African Health Supply Chain
Pamela Steele, Andrey Levitskiy, Joanna Nayler, Dr Lakshmy Subramanian
Human resource management (HRM) is a critical component of an effective health supply chain that emphasizes the importance of human capital for successful Supply Chain Management (SCM) and customer satisfaction, citing the positive impact of strategic HRM on organizational performance. The present study aims to identify best practices in HRM and to understand if and how these are applied across health supply chain organizations in Sub-Saharan Africa. The study is informed by the HRM theoretical framewor...
18th August 2020
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A Case for Local Pharmaceutical Manufacturing in Africa in Light of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Pamela Steele, Dr Gamal Khalafalla Mohamed Ali, Andrey Levitskiy, Dr Lakshmy Subramanian
The successful experience of industrialized nations proves that health systems, when coordinated with technological development, can also generate goods and services that are crucial for economic development. Like many low- and middle-income countries, sub-Saharan African nations also aspire to develop their pharmaceutical industry by promoting access to affordable quality medicine. Many countries are taking restrictive measures during the current Covid-19 pandemic to secure adequate access to medical pro...
15th July 2020
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Developing a Sustainability Index for Public Health Supply Chains
Lakshmy Subramaniana, Constantinos Alexioua, Joseph G. Nellis J, Pamela Steele, Foyeke Tolani
There is little evidence of research on the sustainability of public health supply chains. Existing studies cover only the triple-bottom approach so there is a need to delve deeper to identify and quantify additional aspects. To this end, we developed a Supply Chain Sustainability Index which in addition to measuring the economic, social, and environmental footprints, also measures the stakeholder collaboration, health outcomes, and product/service and process quality initiatives.
2nd April 2020
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Evaluating Constraints and Prospects in Public Health Supply Chain: the Case of the Ethiopian Pharmaceutical Supply Agency (EPSA)
Loko Abrham Bongasse, Mehari Tekesete Tesfazig, Goitom Gigar Abera, Tesfalem Adraro Angelo, Kalkidan Lakew Belayneh, Levitskiy Andrey, Steele Pamela, Tolani Foyeke
This paper presents the findings on supply chain constraints (or bottlenecks) identified by EPSA’s Admas Programme, launched by Pamela Steele Associates and its consortium partners in late 2018.
10th January 2020