Study Results from University of North Carolina Broaden Understanding of COVID-19 (Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic On Medical Product Procurement, Prices, and Supply Chain In Zimbabwe: Lessons for Supply Chain Resiliency): Coronavirus – COVID-19

2024 MAR 15 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Investigators publish new report on Coronavirus - COVID-19. According to news reporting originating in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted global health supply chains including manufacturing, storage, and delivery of essential medicines, testing kits, personal protective equipment, and laboratory reagents. We sought to document how pandemic impacted the procurement, prices, and supply chain of medical pro-ducts in Zimbabwe.”

Financial supporters for this research include U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) Quality Institute as part of the UNC-USP Quality of Medical Products research fellowship, Wellcome Trust.

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from the University of North Carolina, “We conducted semistructured in-depth key informant interviews with 36 health system stakeholders in Zimbabwe involved in medicine procurement. Respondents included pharmacists, regulatory officers, and procurement and supply chain management professionals from public and private sectors. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, respondents described experiencing long-standing resource constraints, medicine shortages, foreign currency shortages, and supply chain inefficiencies. The pandemic exacerbated this situation due to supply constraints, export restrictions, medicine shortages, and movement restrictions that disrupted logistical and stock management systems. Competitive bid-ding and tendering processes experienced reduced participation by international suppliers. Significant price increases were initially observed among internationally shipped medicines and for personal protective equipment to cover additional freight costs. COVID-19 pandemic impacts were moderated by reduced patient demand and lower health services utilization, resulting in fewer supply shocks and less price volatility. Further, health system adaptations such as switching treatment regimens, modifying dispensing schedules based on stock availability, redistributing stock of medicines among facilities, and new service delivery models such as integrated outreach services helped ensure continued patient access to medicines. Our findings highlight the need for policies that ensure continuity in access to health services and medical products, even during a pandemic, by avoiding blanket restrictions on medical product exports and imports. Pooled procurement, especially at regional and global levels, with long-term service agreements may help achieve greater resiliency to supply and price shocks from sup-ply chain disruptions.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Interventions across manufacturing, trade, and regulatory policy and service delivery models are also needed for supply chain resiliency.”

For more information on this research see: Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic On Medical Product Procurement, Prices, and Supply Chain In Zimbabwe: Lessons for Supply Chain Resiliency. Global Health Science and Practice, 2023;11(5). Global Health Science and Practice can be contacted at: Johns Hopkins Center Communication Programs-ccp, Knowledge Success Project, 111 Market Place, Ste 310, Baltimore, Md, United States.

Our news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Tatenda T. Yemeke, University of North Carolina, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, Div Practice Advancement & Clin Educ, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, United States. Additional authors for this research include Sachiko Ozawa, Farouk A. Umaru and Rashida A. Ferrand.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.9745/GHSP-D-22-00424. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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