Abstract
The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed critical inequities in global healthcare supply chains and the need for these systems to be analyzed and reoriented with an equity lens. Implementation research methodology can guide the use of evidence-based interventions to re-orient health supply chains towards equity and optimize health outcomes. Using this approach, private and public sector entities can adapt their strategies to focus not just on efficiency and cost savings but ensuring that vulnerable populations have access to essential medications, vaccines, and supplies. Findings can inform regulations that address supply chain inequities at the global level, strengthen existing systems to fill structural gaps at the national level, and address contextual challenges at the subnational level. This methodology can help account for historical practices from prior health initiatives, identify contemporary barriers and facilitators for positive change, and have applicability to the Covid-19 pandemic and ongoing vaccine distribution efforts. An implementation research approach is critical in equipping health supply chains with a path for more resilient and equitable distribution of necessary supplies, vaccines, and delivery of care.
Highlights
Lower- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have historically lacked the resources and influence that higher-income countries (HICs) have had over global supply chains with the Covid-19 pandemic only exacerbating this power imbalance [2]
We argue that a critical analysis of supply chains is needed to re-orient these systems towards improving health outcomes through sustainable and equitable delivery of essential materials, especially within the context of the Covid-19 pandemic
LMICs have too often been unable to adapt to supply chain challenges such as limited product, lockdowns, and changing export bans, leaving them without sufficient supplies to optimize the safety and care of providers and patients [3]. These power disparities have direct equity implications and translate into uneven risk between those with greater or lesser access to needed resources when it comes to combating Covid-19 [1, 2, 4]
Summary
LMICs have too often been unable to adapt to supply chain challenges such as limited product, lockdowns, and changing export bans, leaving them without sufficient supplies to optimize the safety and care of providers and patients [3] These power disparities have direct equity implications and translate into uneven risk between those with greater or lesser access to needed resources (e.g., personal protective equipment for healthcare providers or vaccines) when it comes to combating Covid-19 [1, 2, 4]. Private and public sector manufacturers and distributors of essential goods have historically focused on improving efficiency to maximize profit and cost savings [6] These systems should do more to adapt their strategies to local contexts to ensure that vulnerable populations have access to essential medications, vaccines, and supplies
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