The Global Health Supply Chain - Procurement and Supply Management | Regional Development Mission for Asia | Fact Sheet | U.S. Agency for International Development

The Global Health Supply Chain - Procurement and Supply Management (GHSC-PSM) project supports key partners, including the Thai and Lao Ministries of Health, in the procurement, supply chain management, monitoring, and reporting of malaria commodities. Through the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative, USAID helps to fill commodity gaps in Thailand and Laos and to strengthen supply chain management systems to support the elimination of malaria by 2024 and 2030 respectively in both countries.

USAID is increasing availability of and access to malaria commodities in Thailand and Laos, a crucial strategy to ensure early diagnosis, treatment, and prevention among those most at risk for malaria—migrant workers, ethnic minorities, and other vulnerable populations—and critical to eliminate malaria.

FORECASTING NEEDS FOR MALARIA COMMODITIES

GHSC-PSM assists the Thai and Lao governments with national commodity forecasting and analyses of supply gaps. The program coordinates with government and donor counterparts to jointly conduct annual forecasts using the countries’ malaria databases to identify areas for USAID support.

ASSISTANCE WITH PROCUREMENT AND LOGISTICS

GHSC-PSM supports the logistics and management of commodity orders for Thailand and Laos—from the point of manufacture to in-country delivery—of U.S. government-donated rapid diagnostic tests, long-lasting insecticide-treated nets, anti-malarial drugs, and more recently, personal protective equipment against COVID-19 in Thailand.

IMPROVED DATA COLLECTION AND MONITORING

GHSC-PSM provides technical assistance to improve data management and monitoring for effective supply chain planning and decision-making. Integrating essential procurement and logistics data within the national malaria information system will facilitate reporting and monitoring of procurement and supply management data. It will also enable national malaria programs to respond quickly to malaria foci and potential outbreaks, and prevent the reintroduction of malaria by ensuring that commodities are readily available and accessible.

IMPACTS AND RESULTS

Since 2017, GHSC-PSM has been filling malaria commodity gaps, particularly for the most vulnerable populations, such as migrant workers, ethnic minorities, pregnant women, and children. To date, GHSC-PSM has delivered 927,511 long-lasting insecticide-treated nets and 610,000 malaria rapid diagnostic tests to Thailand and Laos; 200,000 tablets of Primaquine 7.5mg to treat Plasmodium vivax infections and 14,070 tablets of artemisinin-based combination therapies to treat Plasmodium falciparum in Laos; and 8,000 artesunate injections for severe malaria in Thailand.
To mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on malaria activities in Thailand, GHSC-PSM procured an additional 12,500 malaria rapid diagnostic tests and various personal protective equipment such as boots, coveralls, face shields, and surgical caps to protect malaria workers from COVID-19 at quarantine centers and in the communities.
GHSC-PSM is supporting the national malaria program in Thailand to implement a web-based malaria commodities’ reporting application called “PSM Online” to gather stock status information from health facilities and for warehouses to document products received and distributed.