Health supply chain processes, which ensure medicines and other medical products are available to deliver health services to patients, are integral to the public healthcare system. Enhancing supply chain processes through the use of digital tools, technologies, and automation offers numerous advantages, benefiting not only organizations, operational staff, and healthcare workers but, most importantly, patients. Several low- and middle-income countries have undertaken initiatives to digitalize their health supply chain. However, there is a lack of a comprehensive and holistic approach to implementing digital health supply chains that aligns with and complements digital health and national information technology architectures. Planning and implementing digital health supply chain requires coordinated effort across various phases and steps within those phases.
WHO, with support from U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), has drafted a handbook to provide guidance to countries on the diverse stages involved in formulating a vision and strategy, as well as planning and implementing a scalable and sustainable digital health supply chain. This handbook primarily focuses on outlining architectural approaches that countries can adopt, tailored to their specific contexts, to advance the digitalization of health supply chains.
WHO is seeking feedback on the draft handbook from experts in the public health supply chain and digitalization community, funders, implementers, academia, industry and product developers and others involved in public health supply chain system implementation efforts. Comments made during this public consultation will contribute to the finalization of the handbook.
We would like to receive your overall comments on what the draft handbook does well and less well at the moment, as well as comments on the sections of the document and line by line if desired. Please use the online form accessible through the following link to provide inputs.
DEADLINE for the submission of comments is 15th March 2024.
Please note we are providing a Word file of the full list of questions to help you plan your online submission – DO NOT make a submission using the word file, the submission should be through the online form. Wherever possible, please coordinate one submission per department or per institution using the word file to collate input into consolidated submissions through the online form.