article · Integrated Pharmacy Research and Practice
An evaluation of supply chain performance for HIV and AIDS commodities across thirty health facilities and five supply agencies in southern Ethiopia shows substantial operational bottlenecks. Only thirty percent of surveyed health centres and hospitals received their supply orders on time, with average lead times for antiretroviral drugs extending up to fifty-nine days in health centres. Over half of the evaluated commodities experienced stock-outs at least once during a six-month period, notably affecting products such as Nevirapine and Uni-Gold test kits. Emergency orders were required by two-thirds of the facilities, and only about half of the orders matched the quantities requested. Although over eighty percent of facilities maintained adequate storage conditions, challenges including inaccurate inventory records, report interruptions, and commodity wastage hinder consistent product availability across the regional healthcare network.
Treating and diagnosing HIV effectively relies on an uninterrupted supply of medicines and test kits. Supply delays, incorrect order quantities, and stock-outs risk disrupting patient treatment and disease monitoring. Pinpointing specific operational weak points, such as lengthy procurement lead times and irregular reporting, enables public health administrators to implement targeted fixes that keep vital medicines continuously available to patients.
The findings highlight an immediate operational need for logistics software, digital inventory tracking, and supply forecasting tools tailored to public health agencies and regional distribution depots. Potential adopters include regional pharmaceutical supply agencies and hospital administrators seeking to reduce order lead times and improve inventory accuracy. Because the abstract documents an assessment of existing public systems rather than a commercial product trial, software and process innovations in this area remain at an applied, problem-identification stage.
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BACKGROUND: Health facilities (HFs) need an extensive range of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs and related HIV/AIDS commodities for diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of HIV/AIDS. This study was aimed to assess supply chain management performance from the perspective of achieving 90-90-90 treatment strategy at HFs of Southern Nations, Nationalities and People's Regional State (SNNPRS), Ethiopia. METHODS: Facilities based cross sectional study design in 30 HFs (9 hospitals and 21 health centers) and five pharmaceuticals fund and supply agencies (PFSAs) was conducted. The HFs were selected randomly. Semi-structured questionnaires and observation checklists with logistic indicators assessment tools (LIATs) were used to collect data for HIV/AIDS related services from November 2016 to May 2017. In addition, we used in-depth face to face interview and thematic approach. Quantitative data were entered into Epi-Data version 3.1 and transported to SPSS version 20 to analyze the result. Qualitative data were analyzed using thematic approach. RESULTS: Only 9 (30%) HFs had received their orders from PFSA on time from date of report. Average lead time for ARV drugs was 46.4 days in hospitals and 59.2 days in health centers (HCs). Sixteen (60.7%) HFs reported their completed report and requisition format (RRF). From this, 53.3% HFs order was refilled correctly in quantity from that they need. Inventory accuracy rate was 77%. Major HFs, 20 (66.7%) faced at least one-time emergency order for ARV drugs, HIV test kits and viral load (VL) supplies. Whereas, 9 (30%) hospitals and 5 (16.67%) HCs were out of stock two and three times respectively. Sixteen (53.3%) commodities stocked out at least once in six months. Nevirapine (NVP) 10 mg/5 mL in 240 mL was the most stocked out (13 times) for an average 22 days. Uni gold was stocked out (16 times) with average of 34.5 days. Wastage rate was 2.5%. Twenty-five (83.3%) facilities had good storage conditions (>80% to the standard). CONCLUSION: Unsatisfactory data records, stock-outs, interrupted reports, inaccurate inventory and wastage rates were indicators for defective supply chain management of HIV/AIDS commodities. Respective organizations should improve their responsible activities to secure commodities availability.
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DOI: 10.2147/iprp.s228162
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