Ugandan government allocation for RH supply procurement, warehousing & distribution
2023
Celebrating Resilience
Scroll down to read our end-of-year report
We supported Advocacy and Accountability Working Group partners in sub-Saharan Africa to implement advocacy strategies for domestic resource mobilization. In Uganda, a partnership of organizations saw the government increase their allocation for RH supply procurement, warehousing, and distribution from US $5 million in 2022-2023 to US $8.7 million in 2023-2024, and set aside 25% of the US $8.7 million for family planning (FP) commodities in 2023-2024.
Ugandan government allocation for RH supply procurement, warehousing & distribution
allocated for family planning commodities
Under our Compass initiative finance series, Avenir Health published research on contraceptive supplies funding patterns before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. A new interactive data annex used new data from RHViz/VAN, the FP Market Report, and UNFPA country surveys to complement this research.
midwives who operate in low-income areas
growth of network fund
Over the last three years, the VAN helped procurers like USAID and UNFPA mobilize more than US $70 million in new orders for member countries, avoided waste by supporting product reallocation worth US $4.67 million in cancelled and transferred orders, and supported the expedition of 86 orders to mitigate supply shortages. In 2023, the VAN launched its Demand Planning Module allowing speedier, more accurate demand forecasts; it helped identify a $100 million procurement funding gap support UNFPA and USAID's funding mobilization and allocation.
in new orders for member countries
identified as a procurement funding gap
Building on its foundational work to engage 36 member countries, the VAN offered eligible governments additional services and features to lead joint supply and demand planning. In one outcome, the governments of Niger and Nigeria collaborated with WAHO and the VAN to support an IUD transfer from Niger to Nigeria, saving 40,000 copper IUDs from possible expiry and non-use, and yielding 185,000 couple years of protection. Watch this video for more resilience stories.
copper IUDs saved from possible expiry and non-use
Couple Years of Protection
Since 2017, SEPREMI, ForoLAC's business intelligence tool, has helped Latin American countries strengthen procurement practices and forecast the impact of their investments, achieving US $7.9 M in cost savings. This year, the business intelligence platform SEPREMI, originally in Spanish, became available in English, opening it up to 19 English-speaking Caribbean countries.
in cost savings
English-speaking Caribbean countries
Under our flagship LAPTOP initiative, we awarded scholarships to 14 young women and 14 young men from LMICs to further their studies in supply chain management. And the Girls on the Move internship program helped 36 young women in Kenya complete successful logistics-based placements which culminated in full-time employment for many of them.
scholarships in supply chain management
young women completed supply chain internships
We helped the NGO TAN UX'IL in Guatemala explore how to provide RH supplies and services to migrant women journeying from Central America to the US border. From January to October, TAN UX'IL distributed nearly 5,000 emergency kits containing items such as menstrual health pads and more than 4,000 doses of emergency contraception.
emergency kits containing items such as menstrual health pads
doses of emergency contraception
Under our Compass Initiative, an RHSC-commissioned report produced by inSupplyHealth investigated Covid's profound impact on RH supply chains and explored adaptations that stakeholders in sub-Saharan Africa have made in order to maintain access to RH commodities.
Scroll down to read our end-of-year report
This year, it may have seemed like the only certainty in the world of reproductive health (RH) supplies was uncertainty. Like the only constant on the horizon was change.
In a year beset with unexpected political and funding developments and an ever-shifting supplies landscape, not to mention the aftermath of the pandemic, the RHSC resolved to seek out - and build on - our community's resilience.
We brought our members together in Accra for our first in-person General Membership Meeting in 4½ years. Under the theme of Resilience, 280 participants celebrated our community's strength and ingenuity through the pandemic years and beyond. We launched global conversations on the diversification of financing and on regional manufacturing and we consulted with our members in person on the re-design of the RHSC Strategy.
In 2023, we identified and filled new key roles in our Secretariat; 23 staff with 14 countries of origin currently work in 10 physical locations around the world, increasing our technical capacity and scope for engagement with our members.
At the close of this year, the RHSC is 580 members strong — 55% of whom are based in low- and middle-income countries, with 28% in Sub-Saharan Africa alone.
The Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition's strategic work addresses three bottlenecks in commodity security: inadequate funding, power imbalances in the supplies market, and weak supply chains. This year, these 3 M's—Money, Markets, and Movement— continued to shape our work in increasing access to a broad choice of high-quality, affordable RH supplies.
The resources needed to finance supplies.
Top highlights from 2023
In Peru, we helped grow a private midwife network to more than 1,400 midwives who operate in low-income areas. This year, the RIAMA midwife network completed its transition from donor-funding to a self-sustaining network with a revolving fund used to procure contraceptives. This fund has grown by 327%.
Under our Compass initiative finance series, Avenir Health published research on contraceptive supplies funding patterns before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. A new interactive data annex used new data from RHViz/VAN, the FP Market Report, and UNFPA country surveys to complement this research.
The complex landscape connecting demand and supply.
Top highlights from 2023
Over the last three years, the VAN helped procurers like USAID and UNFPA mobilize more than US $70 million in new orders for member countries, avoided waste by supporting product reallocation worth US $4.67 million in cancelled and transferred orders, and supported the expedition of 86 orders to mitigate supply shortages.
Building on its foundational work to engage 36 member countries, the VAN offered eligible governments additional services and features to lead joint supply and demand planning.
This year, the business intelligence platform SEPREMI, originally in Spanish, became available in English, opening it up to 19 English-speaking Caribbean countries.
The driver of product availability from manufacturer to the last mile.
Top highlights from 2023
Under our flagship LAPTOP initiative, we awarded scholarships to 14 young women and 14 young men from LMICs to further their studies in supply chain management.
We helped the NGO TAN UX'IL in Guatemala explore how to provide RH supplies and services to migrant women journeying from Central America to the US border.
Under our Compass Initiative, an RHSC-commissioned report produced by inSupply Health investigated Covid's profound impact on RH supply chains and explored adaptations that stakeholders in sub-Saharan Africa have made in order to maintain access to RH commodities.