APR Explained

Strengthening supply chains: a long-term investment

The Vaccine Alliance has been working hard in recent years to build greater resilience in supply chains, an effort that is starting to show results.

21 October 2020
2 min read
by Gavi Staff
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<article> <h1> <span>Strengthening supply chains: a long-term investment</span> </h1> <div><p>The Vaccine Alliance has been working hard in recent years to build greater resilience in supply chains, an effort that is starting to show results.</p> </div> <ul> <li> <b>21 October 2020</b> </li> <li> <b class="me-2">by</b> <span> <a href="https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/authors/gavi-staff" hreflang="en">Gavi Staff</a> </span> </li> </ul> <figure> <img src="https://www.gavi.org/sites/default/files/vaccineswork/2020/Thumbnail/RS31652_Mozambique-20200303-ISGR2127_h2.jpg" width="1440" height="960" alt="Lopes Simbo stores tetanus vaccines at the central cold storage in Maputo, Mozambique – Gavi/2020/Isaac Griberg" loading="lazy"> <figcaption>Lopes Simbo stores tetanus vaccines at the central cold storage in Maputo, Mozambique – Gavi/2020/Isaac Griberg</figcaption> </figure> <div> <div> <div> <div> <div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div> <span data-type="column" data-id="87791"></span> <div> <div> <div> <div> <p>In 2019, scores for Effective Vaccine Management (EVM) – WHO’s analysis of country <a href="https://www.gavi.org/types-support/health-system-and-immunisation-strengthening/immunisation-supply" title="Immunisation supply chain">supply chain</a> performance – reached an average of 70% across Gavi-supported countries for the second year. All countries that conducted an assessment in 2019 gained an increased score – up by an average of nearly 7 percentage points from their last assessment. This suggests that countries continue to make progress in strengthening their supply chains – although the portfolio-level indicator was flat due to a limited number of new EVMs in 2019. A newly improved assessment tool will empower countries to conduct more regular self-assessments of their progress; also, it will provide more insights and greater clarity on where improvements are needed.<sup>a</sup></p> </div> </div> </div> </div> <span data-type="column" data-id="87801"></span> </div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <div> </div> <div> </div> </div> <div> <div> 39,552<span>units</span> </div> <div> of improved cold chain equipment procured to date </div> </div> <div> <div> </div> <div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div> <span data-type="column" data-id="87721"></span> <div> <div> <div> <div> <p>Countries making substantial commitments to improving their supply chain and procurement include the <a href="https://www.gavi.org/programmes-impact/country-hub/africa/congo-dr" title="Congo, DR">Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)</a>, which made it a priority under the Mashako Plan to boost immunisation coverage. The country used 43% of health system strengthening support on such key areas as scaling up infrastructure; building, procuring and maintaining cold chain equipment, facilities and vehicles; and strengthening data for management. Together with technical assistance from partners under the <a href="https://www.gavi.org/programmes-impact/types-support/pef" title="Partners&#039; engagement framework">partners’ engagement framework (PEF)</a>, this helped <a href="https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/resilience-and-risks-global-health-security" title="Resilience and the risks to global health security">strengthen</a> the supply chain and boosted the country’s EVM composite score to 70% in 2019, up from 60% in 2014. Cameroon also made significant progress in this area, reaching an EVM composite score of 80.6% (compared with 62% in 2013).</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> <span data-type="column" data-id="87731"></span> </div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <div> </div> <div> </div> </div> <div> <div> 49 <span>of 57</span> </div> <div> countries applied for Gavi’s Cold Chain Equipment Optimisation Platform support </div> </div> <div> <div> </div> <div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div> <span data-type="column" data-id="87831"></span> <div> <div> <div> <div> <p>A total of 49 out of 57 <a href="https://www.gavi.org/programmes-impact/country-hub" title="Country hub">eligible countries</a> have applied for support from <a href="https://www.gavi.org/news/document-library/cold-chain-equipment-technology-guide" title="Cold chain equipment technology guide">Gavi’s Cold Chain Equipment Optimisation Platform (CCEOP)</a>. By the end of 2019, the Alliance had procured nearly 40,000 units of improved cold chain equipment through CCEOP and was on track to reach the target of procuring 65,000 units by the end of 2020.<sup>b</sup></p> <hr> <div> <p>a – EVM assessments planned for 2020 have been halted due to COVID-19 restrictions on travel and movement to and in countries.</p> <p>b – The COVID-19 pandemic has delayed programme implementation; and as travel restrictions are extended by countries, the costs of transport, storage and service bundles will likely increase – putting this target at risk.</p> </div> <hr> <p><strong><em>Read more about how Gavi has accelerated equitable uptake and coverage of vaccines in <a href="https://www.gavi.org/news/document-library/gavi-progress-report-2019" title="Gavi Progress Report 2019">Gavi’s 2019 Annual Progress Report</a>.</em></strong></p> <p><a href="https://www.gavi.org/news/document-library/gavi-progress-report-2019" title="Gavi Progress Report 2019"><img alt="Download the Gavi progress report 2019" height="647" src="https://www.gavi.org/sites/default/files/programmes-impact/our-impact/apr/apr-download_th_2.jpg" width="1000" loading="lazy"></a></p> </div> </div> </div> </div> <span data-type="column" data-id="87841"></span> </div> </div> <p> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/strengthening-supply-chains-long-term-investment">Original article</a> </p><p>This article was originally published on <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork">VaccinesWork</a> </p><script>(function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start': new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0], j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src= 'https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f); })(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-M7H54VD');</script><noscript><iframe src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-M7H54VD" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript></article>

Lopes Simbo stores tetanus vaccines at the central cold storage in Maputo, Mozambique – Gavi/2020/Isaac Griberg

In 2019, scores for Effective Vaccine Management (EVM) – WHO’s analysis of country supply chain performance – reached an average of 70% across Gavi-supported countries for the second year. All countries that conducted an assessment in 2019 gained an increased score – up by an average of nearly 7 percentage points from their last assessment. This suggests that countries continue to make progress in strengthening their supply chains – although the portfolio-level indicator was flat due to a limited number of new EVMs in 2019. A newly improved assessment tool will empower countries to conduct more regular self-assessments of their progress; also, it will provide more insights and greater clarity on where improvements are needed.^a

39,552units

of improved cold chain equipment procured to date

Countries making substantial commitments to improving their supply chain and procurement include the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which made it a priority under the Mashako Plan to boost immunisation coverage. The country used 43% of health system strengthening support on such key areas as scaling up infrastructure; building, procuring and maintaining cold chain equipment, facilities and vehicles; and strengthening data for management. Together with technical assistance from partners under the partners’ engagement framework (PEF), this helped strengthen the supply chain and boosted the country’s EVM composite score to 70% in 2019, up from 60% in 2014. Cameroon also made significant progress in this area, reaching an EVM composite score of 80.6% (compared with 62% in 2013).

49 of 57

countries applied for Gavi’s Cold Chain Equipment Optimisation Platform support

A total of 49 out of 57 eligible countries have applied for support from Gavi’s Cold Chain Equipment Optimisation Platform (CCEOP). By the end of 2019, the Alliance had procured nearly 40,000 units of improved cold chain equipment through CCEOP and was on track to reach the target of procuring 65,000 units by the end of 2020.^b

Read more about how Gavi has accelerated equitable uptake and coverage of vaccines in Gavi’s 2019 Annual Progress Report.