Strengthening Health Supply Chains in Fragile Settings
Reliable access to medicines depends as much on the systems behind them as the funding in front of them. Here's what consistently makes the difference in fragile and resource-constrained settings.
Supply Chain Management4 min read
Rosalie Faniyo
Across two decades of supply chain and procurement work in ministries of health, one lesson holds true everywhere: the biggest barrier to reliable medicine access is rarely funding alone. It's the systems connecting funding to the shelf.
In fragile and resource-constrained settings, that means investing early in three things: accurate quantification and forecasting, so orders match real demand rather than guesswork; procurement processes that are transparent enough to withstand scrutiny and fast enough to prevent stockouts; and storage and distribution networks built for the last mile, not just the capital city.
None of this is glamorous work. It rarely makes headlines. But when a central medical store can tell a Ministry of Health exactly what's in stock, what's expiring, and what's needed next quarter, that's the difference between a functioning health system and a fragile one.
The organizations that get this right treat supply chain strengthening as core health infrastructure, not a back-office function. That shift in mindset, more than any single technical fix, is usually what unlocks lasting improvement.
- Supply Chain
- Health Systems