20 Essential Resources on Commodity Security and Supply Chains

Government commitment is necessary to set policies and allocate funding for product procurement, health worker training, and supply chain management. A well-functioning supply chain enables clients to choose from a variety of methods, and program managers to track health system progress. Managing and operating a resilient supply chain requires several key interventions. These include quantifying health commodities, expanding method choice, and using a total market approach to improve contraceptive accessibility. Additionally, resources are needed to improve and reinforce supply chain staff capacity and estimate supply chain costs based on contraceptive growth. The collection of resources provided by John Snow, Inc. and Knowledge includes comprehensive guides, online platforms, and reports on various topics related to RHCS and supply chain management. These topics include visibility, financing, implementation tools, measurement and evaluation, resiliency, and supply chain management. The resources are organized to provide insight into global historical and current contraceptive shipments, financing challenges and options, and the impact of changes in contraceptive investments. The resources also provide tools and guidance on quantifying health commodities, expanding method choice, and using a total market approach to improve contraceptive accessibility. Additionally, they offer lessons learned, scenarios, and recommendations to ensure supply chains are prepared for various events and can recover and improve from them. Supply chain managers can use these resources to operate and upgrade the system's vital functions, including basic supply chain principles, assessment tools, and upgrading the Logistics Management Information System (LMIS). Country, regional, and global stakeholders can use the resources to measure RHCS progress and track progress in contraceptive investments. The resources provide a comprehensive platform for family planning supplies, offering insight into global historical and current contraceptive shipments. They also provide guidance and examples on financing challenges and options, and how to track them. The resources are designed to support technical assistance providers, reproductive health advisors, and country government officers in increasing the availability of family planning products. They can be used to identify areas to target or find additional financing to strengthen supply chains. The resources are also useful for advocacy efforts to create support for RHCS.