AMP and WHO Receive Grant to Strengthen Health Logistics in sub-Saharan Africa

PARIS and GENEVA, July 21, 2011 -

The Agence de Médecine Préventive (AMP) and the World Health
Organization (WHO) have received two grants totaling US$6 million
from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to provide technical
support to increase the capacity and competence of health
logisticians in sub-Saharan Africa.

The project, called “LOGIVAC”, will establish two regional
health logistics reference centers to offer professional training
and certification for logisticians. In addition, it will develop a
model for an innovative logistics system to demonstrate the impact
of using certified logisticians on immunization program
performance. AMP and WHO will implement project activities in
collaboration with regional public and private partners.

Strong health logistics and vaccine management are necessary to
effectively deliver life-saving immunization services. However, the
logistics systems in many developing countries, particularly in
sub-Saharan Africa, suffer from weak infrastructure, inadequate
essential services such as transportation and information
technology, and shortage of skilled human resources. This
contributes to vaccine management issues including wasted vaccine
doses and supply shortages, leading to missed opportunities for
vaccinating children.

As new, more expensive vaccines become available, the stakes are
even higher for health logistics. Adding more vaccines to routine
immunization schedules requires the enhancement of supply chain
management and operations. Health logisticians should have the
know-how to ensure proper vaccine storage and transportation,
guaranteeing systematic and timely vaccine delivery, and
maintaining the cold chain, which keeps the vaccines at controlled
temperatures.

“Strong immunization services are essential to sustain past
gains and to ensure that new, more expensive vaccines with high
public health impact are properly introduced,” said Dr. da Silva,
executive director of AMP.  ”A key success factor is having
highly trained and certified health logisticians who are capable of
making sure that vaccines are delivered to the right place at the
right time and in the right conditions.”

According to Dr. Rudi Eggers from the Department of
Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals at WHO, this grant marks an
important step towards ensuring the long-term sustainability of
health logistics in sub-Saharan Africa. “By developing training and
certification programs for health logisticians based on local
needs, we hope to not only fill an important gap but also to
illustrate that a well-trained logistics workforce can have a
measureable impact on the performance of immunization programs
across the continent.”  

About AMP

Founded in 1972, AMP is a nonprofit organization with
headquarters at the Institut Pasteur in Paris and offices in Benin,
Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, and Vietnam. AMP is dedicated to
improving the health and well-being of those most in need across
the globe. Along with our public- and private-sector partners, we
aim to:

• Enhance scientific knowledge in support of evidence-based
  health policies
• Strengthen immunization service delivery, logistics, and
  innovation
• Develop human and institutional capacity for improved health
  system performance

Learn more: href="www.aamp.org/">www.aamp.org

About WHO

WHO is the directing and coordinating authority on international
health within the United Nations system. WHO is responsible for
providing leadership on global health matters, shaping the health
research agenda, setting norms and standards, articulating
evidence- based policy options, providing technical support to
countries and monitoring and assessing health trends. For more
information on WHO and its work, please visit: href="www.who.int/">www.who.int

For more information, please contact: AMP, Sabrina Gaber, Tel: +33-1-53-86-89-20, E-mail: sgaber at aamp.org; WHO
Hayatee Hasan, Mobile: +41-79-500-6532, E-mail: hasanh at who.int