News: GHSC-PSM Project Hits 87 Percent On-Time Delivery and Achieves $85 Million in Savings Per Recent Annual Report

As reported in the recently published Fiscal Year 2018 Annual Report, covering the period of October 1, 2017 to September 30, 2018, the USAID Global Health and Supply Chain Program – Procurement and Supply Management (GHSC-PSM) project made big strides in delivering lifesaving commodities on time and building efficient, reliable, and cost-effective health supply chains to assist those who need medicines most.

GHSC-PSM transforms global and national supply chains by ensuring uninterrupted supplies of health commodities to save lives and create healthier futures for people worldwide. To do so, the project delivers commodities by sea, land, and air. In some places, the project is responsible for distribution to the “last mile,” using oxen, donkeys, and camels if necessary to reach more remote locations.

Reliable, On-Time Deliveries

GHSC-PSM had its best performance in terms of delivery timeliness in Quarter 4 of Fiscal Year 2018, delivering 87 percent of line items within a three-week delivery window. The project also achieved a provisional 85 percent on-time delivery in Quarter 1 of Fiscal Year 2019. The sheer magnitude of those deliveries is difficult to grasp. On any given day, GHSC-PSM has 5,700 orders in process. Just one such order of $6 million of bed nets to protect against malaria fits in 208 40-foot containers, or could spread an area of 743 football fields.

An Efficient Supply Chain

Beyond delivering on time, the most recent report highlights GHSC-PSM’s use of commercial practices to deliver efficiently and effectively. By applying methods such as prescriptive analytics combined with other key approaches — such as bidding out many aspects of the supply chain and pooling contracts to achieve more competitive prices — GHSC-PSM has saved more than $85 million on commodities and logistics costs to date, which can, in turn, be used to buy more medicine and save more lives. Below are some additional highlights of the project’s Fiscal Year 2018 performance from its recent report.

Support for PEPFAR’s HIV/AIDS Program

• Delivered enough adult antiretrovirals to provide 2.4 million years of treatment
• Procured HIV products for 38 countries and strengthened supply chain systems in 27 countries
• Supported Ministries of Health to transition to tenofovir, lamivudine, dolutegravir (TLD) as a preferred first-line antiretroviral drug treatment

Support for the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative

• Delivered enough antimalarials to treat 80.1 million malaria infections
• Procured malaria products for 30 countries and strengthened supply chain systems in 25 countries

Program Support for Voluntary Family Planning and Reproductive Health

• Delivered enough contraceptives to provide 22.7 million couple-years of protection
• Procured products for voluntary family planning and reproductive health programs for 25 countries and strengthened supply chain systems in 20 countries

Program Support for Maternal and Child Health

• Procured $367,000 in maternal and child health products
• Procured maternal and child health products for eight countries and strengthened supply chain systems in 15 countries

GHSC-PSM plans, sources, and delivers life-saving HIV, malaria, maternal and child health, and family planning commodities to approximately 60 countries worldwide. To learn more about these and other activities, check out the full GHSC-PSM Fiscal Year 2018 Annual Report.

Banner photo credit: Mickael Breard