PD 6b - Access to Health

The global health community is increasingly focused on supply chain challenges – as multi-lateral donors disburse grant funding for commodity procurement, countries need to be prepared to efficiently absorb and utilize these funds for maximum impact. Even when procurement capacity is strong, last mile delivery challenges persist. The supply and delivery of health products and solutions are among the key challenges to access that are often overlooked. Even the most innovative and effective medicines can be rendered useless if they are not safely and effectively delivered to the patients in need.

Effectively addressing supply chain and delivery challenges requires an inclusive approach that leverages the collective expertise and experiences of diverse stakeholders. Multi-stakeholder collaborations and public-private partnerships are becoming more and more instrumental in addressing these key challenges and accelerating access to more affordable, safe and quality medicines. Equally important and often overlooked are the upstream supply chain challenges where limited collaboration among private sector companies can lead to inefficient and more expensive delivery systems.

Recognizing these bottlenecks to effective supply chain and delivery systems, 13 private sector partners came together in May 2014 to launch The Accessibility Platform. A global health initiative, spearheaded by the private sector, which aims at promoting information exchange, best practice sharing and fostering multi-stakeholder dialogue and collective actions at the global, regional, and country levels.

This multi-stakeholder panel will provide an overview of key challenges, identify potential areas for collective action and highlight best practices to jointly address supply chain and delivery issues in a holistic manner to strengthen health systems.