Supply Chain Assessment of Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Commodities in Ghana’s Private Sector Facilities, Wholesalers, and Retail Pharmacies
Deogratius Kimera1, Daniel Oswald Owusu-Afranie1, Damaris Forson1, Emmanuel Menyah1, Claudette Ahliba Diogo2
1 USAID Global Health Supply Chain-Procurement and Supply Management, Marvel House, 1st Floor, 148A Giffard Road, Cantonments, Accra, Ghana.
2Ghana Health Service, Dodoo Lane, Accra, Ghana
October (2022) pp 1-4 DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/gpj.2022102
Published online 6th October, 2022.
© 2022 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license
ABSTRACT
Background: The private sector in Ghana provides 50% of health services in the country yet there is limited information on the supply chain management of MNCH commodities in this sector.
Aim: To understand how MNCH commodities are managed within the private sector.
Method: A mixed methods approach was used to capture supply chain related data on a subset of MNCH commodities in the private sector. The sampling strategy included the selection of four regions (Ashanti, Greater Accra, Northern, and Upper East) in Ghana. Quantitative data on product management, availability, source, pricing and registration were collected from retail pharmacies, private health facilities and wholesalers. Additionally qualitative data on factors influencing supply decisions were collected from wholesalers.
Results: The study showed that retail pharmacies and wholesalers were less likely to manage injectable products like gentamicin, magnesium sulphate and oxytocin as compared to private health facilities. At all three facility types, amoxicillin DT, chlorhexidine gel and ORS + zinc co-pack were the least managed products. The main reason for non-management of MNCH products was “low or no client demand”. Majority of MNCH products had at least half of the most prevalent brands registered. Regarding product pricing, the results showed lower NHIS prices for certain products compared to selling prices at retail pharmacies and health facilities. Ninety percent of all three facility types met at least half of the storage requirements; with 100% of wholesalers and 96% of health facilities storing oxytocin in a working refrigerator. However, 25% of retail pharmacies did not store oxytocin within the recommended temperature range of 2-8 degrees.
Conclusion: The private sector is influenced by commercial factors, which could come at a high cost in terms of availability, accessibility, and affordability for individuals and families. There is the need to create a cost incentive that encourages the private sector to offer and improve access to critical MNCH commodities, including amoxicillin DT, ORS + zinc co-pack, chlorhexidine gel and injectable MNCH products.
Keywords: Private sector, MNCH, Supply Chain, Wholesale pharmacies, Retail pharmacies
© The Author(s) 2022. Published by the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana (PSGH). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.