Coordinated Supply Planning

To ensure a steady supply of health products, coordination is needed both at the global and national level. The project brought stakeholders together and generated critical data for decisionmaking to support the supply planning process. As a member of a key global coordination forum, the project pioneered the monthly Procurement Planning and Monitoring Report (PPMR), which tracks contraceptive stock levels and helps to avert stockouts. This successful approach inspired the project to produce a similar monitoring tool for malaria commodities. In 13 countries in West and Central Africa, the project established a regional early warning system for contraceptives to respond to supply issues—data which is also shared in the PPMR.

Over the past decade, data from the project’s PPMR has enabled governments and donors to respond rapidly and effectively to supply shortfalls. To prevent stockouts of contraceptives, or instances of overstock when drugs would expire and possibly be wasted, the Coordinated Assistance for Reproductive Health Supplies (CARhs) group uses the PPMR to monitor stock status and shipments of contraceptives to address over- and under-supply situations. Between May 2012 and September 2016, the CARhs group used PPMR data to create 81 new shipments and expedite 46, addressing potential shortages; postpone 18 shipments and cancel 14, avoiding or minimizing overstocks; and facilitate five product transfers so that product that would not be used before expiry in one country could meet user needs in another.

Participation has grown from three countries in 2007 to 33 countries and 53 programs in 2016, which includes the public sector, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and social marketing programs. This monthly report is now an essential mechanism for countries and donors to address critical contraceptive stock imbalances in countries all over the world.

Learn more about coordinated supply planning