Poster 4

A hotline to improve the availability, quality, and use of family planning logistics data to ensure product safety at the last mile (37)

Fragile Last-Mile Safety For Contraceptive Products In 2019, an assessment of the health supply chain in Niger showed shortcomings in the provision of contraceptive products caused by the low qualification of actors and gaps in the management of drugs leading to low quality of logistical reporting. To address these shortcomings, the GHSC-TA Francophone TO project partnered with the Directorate of Pharmacy and Traditional Medicine (DPH/MT) and the Directorate of Family Planning (DPF) to find a solution and identified the Hotline. A Hotline to Improve Family Planning Logistics Data Partnering with the Ministry of Health, the project identified the Hotline service to improve the availability, quality, and use of logistics data at the regional, district, and health center levels in the USAID-focus regions of Maradi and Zinder. Teleoperators monitor site-level inventory status through the hotline, closely track stock transfers or return requests, and transmit emergency orders to district and regional warehouses, providing much-needed data for decision-makers. The Hotline Helps Reduce Stockouts Historically, stockout levels have varied between 25% and 75%, depending on the product and the reference period. The study showed that since the launch of the Hotline, the variation in the indicator has dropped from 0% to 45% depending on the product at the health facility level. This change is attributed to the regular monitoring of site-level inventory status by tele-operators, close tracking of transfer and return stock requests, and the transmission of emergency orders to district and regional depots. Additional results will be available in November 2022. Through the hotline, logistics data from the health facilities are available online, in real time, to support further decision making. If a site reports a stockout, an alert is immediately relayed to managers for action. This system will be sustained and scaled up to the national level by the Ministry.