Healthcare Supply Chain in a Resource-Constrained World

Gaps in health supply chains in low- and middle-income countries contribute significantly to inefficiencies and underperformance of their health systems. Some important elements hindering the performance of these supply chains include small human resources, vulnerable structures for monitoring supply chain performance, ineffectual in-service and pre-service training programs, chronic underfunding, lack of transparency, and an overdependence on obsolete methods. Although proven health-supply-chain-strengthening techniques exist, the level of adoption of these practices has varied across countries, resulting in multiple capacity gaps and underperforming supply chains. The resulting challenges require complementary practices to address the gaps. While it is recognized that there is no “one-size-fits-all” solution to these issues, we demonstrate that real benefits can be achieved by using “best practices”.