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Success Story
Streamlining logistics systems to ensure supplies are on hand
Bringing Medicine to Southern Sudan
Photo: JSI
A health worker provides medicine to the
mother of a sick child.
One participant commented
that the “workshop has
acted to me as an eye
opener. From today, I am
going to be a decisionmaker.”
When people are ill in southern Sudan, they are lucky if they
have a health facility where they can go to for care. The civil war
between north and south Sudan that marked much of Sudan’s 52
years of independence severely stunted the growth of southern
Sudan’s health system, and as a result, as much as 75% of the
population is estimated to have no access to healthcare. When a
health facility is accessible, patients often do not receive quality
services and drugs needed for treatment frequently are not
available. As a result, many patients go without treatment, which
sometimes leads to serious consequences.
Few health personnel have the comprehensive knowledge of
logistics to ensure that health facilities do not run out of needed
drugs. To address this gap, a USAID-funded workshop called,
“Improving Logistics Capacity,” was held in Juba, the capital of
Southern Sudan. The 20 workshop participants represented the
Government of southern Sudan’s Ministry of Health, state-level
ministries of health, county health departments, and partner
organizations, and all were experienced with the lack of supplies
for health facilities.
During the workshop, participants mastered basic health
commodity logistics concepts, including the purpose of a logistics
system, what information must be collected in order to make
good logistics decisions, how to assess stock levels, and when to
take action to prevent overstocks or shortages. One participant
commented that the “workshop has acted to me as an eye
opener. It has prepared me to handle the logistics department
with confidence. From today, I am going to be a decision-maker.”
Participants wasted no time in directly applying their new
knowledge to their current situation, coming up with concrete
and realistic strategies for logistics system improvement. They
developed plans to collect and move essential logistics data from
health facilities to decision-makers in Juba; identified when to
place orders; and identified what to do when facilities have more
of a particular item, e.g., anti-malarial medication, than they can
use before it expires. Strategies developed by participants are
beginning to be used in parts of southern Sudan. Participants’
efforts, ideas, and experiences can then inform the government’s
efforts to build its own national logistics system in the future.
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