Key Challenges to Sustainable Humanitarian Supply Chains: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic

Koppiahraj Karuppiah,Sanjoy Kumar Paul,Bathrinath Sankaranarayanan,Syed Mithun Ali

doi:10.3390/su13115850

Abstract

COVID-19 has had a major impact on health, economic, social, and industrial activities. It has disrupted supply chain management and affected the movement of essential supplies to a large extent. This study aims to identify and evaluate the challenges hampering sustainable humanitarian supply chain management (SHSCM). Twenty critical challenges to SHSCM are identified using a comprehensive literature review, and three strategies were developed. The challenges and strategies were verified using expert input. The challenges were evaluated using the neutrosophic analytic hierarchical process (AHP) method. The neutrosophic TODIM (an acronym in Portuguese for interactive multicriteria decision making) method was then used to select the best strategy. The findings reveal that facility location problems, short lead times for emergency supplies, spread of rumors, rapid emergence of new clusters, and doubt concerning the available remedy are five critical challenges in SHSCM during COVID-19. Public–private partnerships are identified as the best strategy in SHSCM. Finally, this paper discusses the implications to sustainable development goals in the post-COVID-19 pandemic era.

Highlights

Jesús Muñoz-TorresDisasters occurring across the world pose a severe threat to human society
This study focuses on the importance of sustainable humanitarian supply chain management (SHSCM) in regard to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic
Based on the literature review, this study identified several challenges that appear to lower or affect the efficiency of SHSCM

Summary

Introduction

Disasters occurring across the world pose a severe threat to human society. During and after the disaster, the provision of relief and recovery materials lowers victims’ suffering. In such a situation, the supply chain network plays a crucial role. Providing the “right materials” in the “right quantity” to the “right people” at the “right time” is the intention of typical supply chain management (SCM) [2]. It is applicable for both commercial and humanitarian

Objectives

Methods

Conclusion