Cameroon

In Cameroon, USAID, along with such partners as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, has provided commodities and technical assistance to improve health commodity availability and strengthen pharmaceutical supply systems. These investments have ensured security for, and improved access to, medicines and laboratory commodities toward reducing the prevalence of HIV/AIDS.

Cameroon’s Ministry of Health has officially launched “Test and Start,” the World Health Organization’s recommendation for all HIV-positive patients to begin antiretroviral treatment as soon as possible after diagnosis. This program has created the need to design a more responsive and agile supply chain system of HIV commodities that can address new challenges in demand, supply, and funding.
 

The USAID Global Health Supply Chain Program-Procurement and Supply Management (GHSC-PSM) project will build on what has worked to date and use innovative approaches to help the country achieve even better health outcomes in the next five to eight years.
 

Specifically, we seek to achieve 10 results:
 

1. Improved forecasting and supply planning practices at the national and regional levels
2. Consistent availability of HIV commodities in support of antiretroviral therapy programs and the UNAIDS 90-90-90 global treatment targets
3. Improved warehousing and inventory management to minimize waste and enhance efficiency
4. Reduced health facility stockouts through more efficient and agile distribution planning
5. Increased supply chain management capacity among personnel at the regional and health facility levels
6. Reduced testing interruption resulting from improved management of viral load commodities
7. Improved coordination and integration of HIV supply chain interventions
8. Enhanced data visibility, accuracy, and transparency for HIV pharmaceutical and lab commodities to inform real-time decision-making
9. Improved data quality for informed supply chain management decision-making
10. Antiretroviral supply management and treatment protocols streamlined through multi-month dispensing at health facilities

Key activities in Cameroon include:

• Provide in-country logistics technical assistance including adequate inventory management and efficient delivery of health commodities to selected sites in regions supported by the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)
• Increase supply chain management capacity among personnel at the regional and health facility levels in PEPFAR-supported regions by implementing strategies to transfer skills, knowledge, and technology for improved and sustained performance
• Support policy reform to optimize in-country supply chain system such as the implementation of ARV multimonth prescription policy to stable patients and community-based distribution and dispensing strategies
• Accelerate the use of electronic tools to improve availability and use of data for decision-making and reduce duplication in data entry and analysis

The project team engages local and international partnerships and leverages relationships with other development partners in the pharmaceutical supply chain, such as Expertise France, the Clinton Health Access Initiative, Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (German Technical Cooperation - GIZ), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), among others.