Health Logistics Students Gain Valuable Quantification Skills

This course was part of a two-year master's degree program in health logistics at the National School of Public Health (NSPH) in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The program is being supported by funding from France's 5% Initiative, which contributes to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The NSPH requested technical and financial support from the USAID | DELIVER PROJECT to develop and teach a course in the quantification of health products. With funding from USAID West Africa, the project adapted its existing quantification curriculum to become a 60-hour professional training course. The course was first offered in February 2015 with technical assistance from the project. The course curriculum covers the full quantification process for health products, including forecasting and supply planning. The course combines theory with in-class practical exercises, giving students the opportunity to practice the full forecasting and supply planning process for contraceptives as their final project. Two quantification experts working in health logistics in Burkina Faso were invited to give presentations to ensure the curriculum reflects the realities in the field. The course was offered to all 11 second-year students, who are pharmacy assistants from Burkina Faso. All students completed the course and reported that the course objectives were well met. Mariam Galbany Traore, the health logistics training coordinator at NSPH, stated that the course was "one of the best courses that we have had." The training program is essential for Burkina Faso and the sub-region, filling a void that existed up until now. It has the potential to become a center of learning in health logistics for Francophone African countries. The project and NSPH are discussing plans to continue to build the capacity of two of the school's lecturers so that the course can continue to be taught in coming years. The USAID | DELIVER PROJECT, Task Order 4, is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and implemented by John Snow, Inc. The project improves essential health commodity supply chains by strengthening logistics management information systems, streamlining distribution systems, identifying financial resources for procurement and supply chain operations, and enhancing forecasting and procurement planning. The project also encourages policymakers and donors to support logistics as a critical factor in the overall success of their health care mandates.