Global Health Supply Chain Research Challenge: Fostering Resilient Supply Chains through Research Grants .
We aim to foster high-quality researchers to develop customized, context-specific solutions for resilient and self-reliant global health supply chains in low- and middle-income countries.
Chemonics, in partnership with the Global Health Research Challenge (GHSC) Group, launched the first-ever Global Health Supply Chain Research Challenge in 2021. Through the challenge, we provide seed grants to local research teams studying challenges and innovative solutions in global health supply chains and pharmaceutical management in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) with the aim of producing bespoke solutions that are appropriate for the context and able to be scaled to other countries. Research proposals cover a wide range of key supply chain themes including: Data-Driven Supply Chains, Supply Chain Sustainability and Self-Reliance, Localization, Private Sector Engagement, and Supply Chain Risk Management and Resiliency.
To be selected, all submissions go through an independent review committee comprised of representatives from the Global Health Supply Chain Summit Group and Chemonics. The winning team conducts their research over one year with support from the Chemonics SC PMT and the GHSC Group, then presents their findings at the GHSC Summit at the end of the year. In the 3 years since we’ve launched the challenge, it has drawn an increasingly large pool of applicants from nearly every continent in the world and a variety of sectors. In 2023, we received a record-breaking 115 submissions.
Every year, we announce the call for proposals in early fall and winners are announced at the GHSC Summit.
The next application period will open in fall 2024.
2023-2024 Research Team
The winners of the 2023-2024 Research Challenge, who are currently conducting their study, are a group of investigators in Tanzania from Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Science, the Tanzania Medical Stores Department, and the University of Bradford. Their study will assess the economic and environmental burden of pharmaceutical waste in Tanzania and explore approaches for improving sustainability of the supply chain. Their research will be conducted over the next year and final results will be shared at the 2024 Global Health Supply Chain Summit.
Past Research Teams
2022-2023
The winner of the 2022-2023 Challenge was a group of researchers from the Vihiga and Kisumu County governments in Kenya. They studied the utilization of data for decision making and performance of health supply chain management systems through a comparison of the two counties. Read more about their findings below:
2021-2022
The winner of our first-ever Research Challenge was a group of investigators from the Ghana Health Service’s National AIDS/STI Control Programme. Their study assessed supply chain management challenges during recent transitions in HIV management guidelines in Ghana. Read more about their findings below: