Advocacy for Health Supplies

Generating the evidence to advocate for commodities and supply chain operations.

To elevate the importance of health commodities and the supply chains that deliver them, the project developed advocacy tools and resources to ensure that commodity security and supply chains were part of the global agenda. The project gathered critical data and lessons learned to provide the evidence base for advocacy and action, which often led to stronger commitment and mobilization of resources.  By analyzing costs and financing, tracking commodity security indicators, and developing tools, the project helped global, regional, and local partners apply advocacy and strategic interventions to detect and alleviate critical gaps in funding, which helped avert stockouts and, ultimately, save lives. The project also applied its expertise in global and regional working groups, developing new strategies to increase access to health commodities.

Strengthening commodity security requires systematic tracking of donor and government commitment, policies, stakeholder coordination, and supply chain information. In 2015, the project completed the seventh round of data collection for the Contraceptive Security (CS) Indicators covering 49 countries. Collecting this information annually allowed stakeholders to identify issues and measure country progress over time. The survey included questions on financing for contraceptives, methods offered, policies, coordination, and the strengths of the supply chain. CS Indicator data and findings were disseminated widely and used for advocacy by many organizations, including the Advance Family Planning Project, Population Action International, FP2020, UNFPA, and others.

Watch the video “Why Invest in Supply Chains”