Assessment of the Performance of the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain of Public Health Facilities: A Case of Tabora Region, Tanzania

Abstract

Performance of the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain is a cornerstone to achieving universal access to Essential Medicines and Health Supplies (EMHS), however it is influenced by several factors. Several indicators have been developed to measure performance of the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain, making possible to identify areas of improvement for continuous transformation. This study aimed at assessing the performance of the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain in Tabora Region, Tanzania. Quantitative research approach was employed in a cross sectional descriptive study. A sample of 58 health facilities was selected using stratified sampling technique. Pharmaceutical supply Chain Performance was summarized using frequency Tables using weighted average score from quality, cost/financial, responsiveness and productivity indicators scores. The performance was classified using average score range that is <50% equals ‘low’ performance, 50% - 79% equals ’moderate’ performance, and >79% equals ‘high’ performance [49]. Logistics Information System Tools available at the facility was used to gather the information for indicator calculation. The public health facilities pharmaceutical supply chain performance with regard to all indicators was found to be Highly Performing at 82.5% score. The notable low performance in this assessment was order fill rate from MSD which was about 38.6% while efficiency in utilization of space, timely entry of received orders into registers, heath commodities availability rate, adherence to forecast and proper arrangement of inventories performed moderately. Furthermore, only 10% of surveyed facilities had adequate pharmaceutical personnel and 14% of surveyed facilities had adequate number of Laboratory personnel performing PSC activities. Since majority of parameters are moderately performing with the exception of low order fill rate from MSD and few pharmaceutical personnel supervising supply chain activities. Therefore managers supervising the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain should pay particular attention in improving Prime Vendor System to fill the gap of MSD and improve the skills of task shifted non-pharmaceutical personnel supervising supply chain of Health commodities in public health facilities