The USAID Global Health Supply Chain Program-Procurement and Supply Management (GHSC-PSM) project has launched a podcast series!
Health on Ice captures the lessons learned from transportation of critical health commodities in low-resource settings, especially during the time of global pandemic and as they apply to vaccine transportation. This podcast will focus on critical health commodity and vaccine infrastructure (i.e. cold chain logistics); how to put that infrastructure in place; challenges and successes related to establishing a reliable cold chain; where cold chain capabilities exist among the countries GHSC-PSM supports; and what gaps and major hurdles countries face as they gear up to distribute the COVID-19 vaccine to the last mile. It will also highlight critical partnerships, or ones that will become more critical as vaccine distribution begins, and other supply chain challenges to consider when initiating a campaign to effectively distribute a vaccine and ensure it is available when and where it is needed.
Episode 1, “Hand sanitizer is dangerous cargo,” from April 2021, focuses on the supply chain interruptions posed by COVID-19 and global vaccine distribution. It serves as health supply chain 101 for those who want to know more about how certain commodities are produced and transported.
Episode 2, “From corn to Kinshasa,” from May 2021, discusses dry ice, how corn factors into producing it, and how the global supply chain is connected in an unbroken chain to keep critical medicines cold; -80 degrees cold!
Episode 3, "The chillest pill," from June 2021, focuses on cold chain data, all the ways that data is captured, and how it saves countless mothers' lives during childbirth.
Episode 4, "Flex, Flow and Freeze" from November 2021, showcases the vaccine distribution support our project provides in Malawi -- from ultra cold chain to waste management to electronic vaccine tracking.
