Humanitarian Supplies Research Articles

Increasing supply chain resiliency through equilibrium pricing and stipulating transportation quota regulation

Supply chain disruption can occur for a variety of reasons, including natural disasters or market dynamics for which resilient strategies should be designed. If the disruption is profound and has dire consequences for the economy, it calls for the regulator’s intervention to minimize the impact for the betterment of the society. This paper investigates the minimum quota regulation on transport amounts of a shipping company with limited capacity that transports a group of products with heterogeneous transportation and production costs and prices. An interesting example can be found in the North American rail transportation market, where rail capacity is used for a variety of products and commodities, such as oil and grains. Similarly, in Europe, the supply chain for grain produced in Ukraine is disrupted by the Ukraine war and the blockade of the maritime transport routes. This siege puts pressure on the rail transport capacity of Ukraine and its neighboring countries to the west, which needs to be shared to ship a variety of products, including grains, military, and humanitarian supplies. Such situations require the proper execution of government intervention for effective management of limited transport capacity to avoid rippling effects throughout the economy. We propose mathematical models and solutions for market players and the government in a Canadian case study. Subsequently, the conditions that justify government intervention are identified, and an algorithm is presented to obtain the optimum minimum quotas.

Impact of the 2023 armed conflict on Sudan's healthcare system

AbstractThe armed conflict in Sudan erupted in mid‐April 2023, resulting in many casualties, internal displacement, and refugees. Sudan's health system was severely affected by multiple attacks on healthcare facilities and workers, closure of hospitals, and occupation of medical facilities by armed groups. Critical services such as immunization, nutrition, and emergency care have been suspended, disrupting health services in conflict states and increasing strain on neighboring states' healthcare facilities. The conflict also caused shortages of essential medical supplies, looting of healthcare facilities and humanitarian supplies, and destruction of infrastructure, affecting the supply chain and availability of healthcare resources. The deployment and distribution of the health workforce have become challenging and may lead to a further brain drain of healthcare professionals. The financial challenges in healthcare financing are expected to worsen due to the conflict's economic impact on fiscal space and fiscal capacity. The health system's governance has been affected by a leadership vacuum, and decision‐making may shift to the state level. The conflict has also exacerbated the burden of diseases, including communicable diseases, malnutrition, and mental health issues, with potential outbreaks of dengue fever, measles, and spikes of gender‐based violence reported. In response to the conflict, the restoration and maintenance the health system is pivotal via coordinating efforts between the Sudanese Ministry of Health and international partners. The safety of healthcare workers and the delivery of essential supplies need to be restored via strengthening compliance with international humanitarian law, pooling of funds, and services at primary care level. This commentary discusses the impact of the 2023 conflict on Sudan's health and health system, particularly on different building blocks of Sudan's health system as well as the burden of disease and humanitarian response priorities.

The impact of transportation capacity in pre‐positioning humanitarian supplies

ABSTRACTHumanitarian action saves lives by delivering supplies following a disaster. To effectively prepare, large humanitarian organizations solve optimization models to allocate inventory minimizing expected time‐to‐respond. However, these organizations also rely on transportation carriers to deliver this inventory, a feature often omitted from such models. Part of the reason is that capacity data on third‐party carriers are scant. Nevertheless, there is value in humanitarian organizations asking themselves the following: how should such data be incorporated into a model; how important is it to incorporate transportation capacities; where is it worth increasing transportation capacity? Building on previous inventory optimization models, we partner with the United States Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to answer these questions by incorporating transportation market capacity. Using public and proprietary data sets, we first approximate the trucking capacity near FEMA's warehouses. We develop intuitive metrics that guide practitioners to make decisions, understand trade‐offs in complex networks, and negotiate contracts. We show that when optimizing inventory, ignoring trucking capacity can lead to up to 18% higher response times. In discussions with FEMA, our research has guided strategic inventory deployment and has been a catalyst in a new initiative for transportation contracting.

HUMANITARIAN LOGISTICS IN DISASTER PREPAREDNESS: A CASE STUDY OF MONSOON RELIEF DISTRIBUTION FOR PULAU REDANG, TERENGGANU

Logistical planning is essential to reducing disaster-related suffering. As aid is essential, it must be managed effectively to ensure that the impacted population receives accurate and timely assistance. Every year, from October to March, the Northeast Monsoon brings torrential rainfall to the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, notably Terengganu, resulting in catastrophic floods. This situation presents a unique logistical challenge in the island area, where humanitarian supplies must be delivered well before the monsoon season starts since the islands will become inaccessible due to weather and sea conditions. This study explored measures and approaches implemented by the Department of Social Welfare Malaysia (DoSW), a government agency responsible for distributing aid to Pulau Redang, Terengganu, in preparation for the monsoon season. A qualitative inquiry methodology using a case study was used to complete this study by conducting interviews with key respondents from DoSW as well as Pulau Redang’s local communities. The results showed that information gathering, pre-positioned supplies, good coordination among logistics agencies and local community involvement are essential strategies to ensure that disaster-affected communities get the supplies they need quickly and efficiently, especially in remote island areas.

A16 Humanitarian health care logistics during the Canterbury earthquakes in New Zealand

Abstract Background Disasters have become a constant feature of the global landscape that has reached unpredictable intensity in countries around the world including New Zealand which experienced three earthquakes within six months in 2010-2011 with logistical support challenges which is seen as a major and complex component of relief operations and management. Therefore, the enhancement of humanitarian health care logistics is critical to optimize humanitarian relief by better preparation prior to the onset of any disaster. This paper therefore is examining the humanitarian healthcare logistics provided during the 2010-2011 earthquakes in Canterbury region of New Zealand and the lessons in preparing for future as a nation that is prone to disaster. Methods A retrospective review of the various health care logistics management during the Canterbury earthquakes was done via the assessment of files, government data and available literature from 2010 till date while some medical personnel, responders and residents of the region during the earthquakes were interviewed. The data were analysed using uni-variate analysis, the ‘mean score’ method and the regression analysis. Results The research shows that the logistics chain of humanitarian health care supplies for large emergencies like the 2011 earthquakes was not actually in place. The Christchurch hospital and other health institutions are not adequately prepared for responding to disaster of that magnitude but with support of international NGO and institutions and bodies as well as assistance from friendly nations they were able to overcome the challenges within a few days of the disasters unlike many of the developing nations that faced such a challenge. Conclusions This paper ended with recommendations on how the governments in New Zealand, Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management, Ministry of Health, the hospital management could improve the emergency preparedness and response in New in general and in Canterbury in particular.

RESIGNATION Scandal leads to departure of Innospec CEO Paul Jennings

The taint of scandal has led to the resignation of a CEO for the second time in four years at fuel additives and specialty chemicals firm Innospec. Paul W. Jennings suddenly resigned from the post on March 20. In a statement from Innospec, Jennings says an ongoing investigation by U.S. and British authorities into the firm’s involvement in the United Nations’ Oil for Food Program (OFFP) between 2001 and 2003 “has made it increasingly difficult for me to move the business forward as I would like.” OFFP allowed Iraq to sell oil for food and other humanitarian supplies after the 1990 Gulf War. But the program quickly devolved into a graft-generating nightmare in which government officials and others around the globe have been implicated. It’s not clear how Innospec, the world’s only manufacturer of the gasoline additive tetraethyllead, is involved. Jennings joined the firm as chief financial officer in 2002 and became CEO in 2005 ...