Pharmaceutical supply chains in Africa – overcoming unique transport security challenges

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According to the World Health Organization, Sub-Saharan Africa still has the worst health conditions of anywhere in the world. Stated in their World Health Statistics 2014, a major shift has occurred elsewhere around the globe, where fewer and fewer deaths are caused by infectious diseases. In many African nations, however, 70% of premature deaths are still caused by infectious diseases and related conditions, and the life expectancy for both men and women is still less than 55 years. Diseases like Ebola, malaria, cholera, tuberculosis and AIDS, as well as violence, widespread poverty and drought have strained an already inadequate and overburdened healthcare delivery system to the breaking point. As a result, a significant number of poor and disadvantaged Africans are not getting the medicine they need. While pharmaceutical distribution is not the only sector impacted by these challenges, the consequence of these late or missing deliveries can impact lives. Part of this is a function of constraints caused by internal and external politics, economics, climate, religion and infrastructure that will need concerted global effort and investment and many years to address. But much of it can be improved simply by determining that the right medicines and medical supplies reach the right people in the right ways. Much of it is a matter of basic transport and supply chain management. Africa is experiencing the highest freight movement volumes ever seen on the continent. The supply of resources has not kept pace with the ever-changing demand, and much of the freight movement efficiency is hampered by inadequate planning. When outside organizations design transport security plans on the African continent, they tend to leverage the same global leading practices that have worked so well in other contexts. But, because Africa is such a unique continent demographically, medically, and economically, employing these same practices in Africa without significant modification can lead to regrettable and substantial gaps in execution. These execution gaps can be minimized by intimately knowing and adjusting to the African environment. For example, it is difficult to design an effective medical supply chain in Africa without understanding that pharmaceutical shipments represent high value goods. This makes their supply chains more risk-prone than in other places, and is why it is crucial that the precautions taken to secure transport are not compromised. Special care must be taken to counter the high risk of external threats like hijacking, load diversion, pilfering and occasionally even terrorism, by closing the gaps that are evident in standard security systems.