Health Products

ABSTRACT Access to medicines and quality health products to ensure healthy populations is a global issue. As 60% of the Global Fund’s financial resources are earmarked for health products, managing the supply chain is crucial given the increase in demand (the scaling-up of ARV treatments, changes in treatment directives, new diagnostic technologies and a growing number of treatment centers). This will necessarily involve reforming the supply chain, aligning partners with a common roadmap, and government leadership in developing countries, say senior experts from the Centre Humanitaire des Métiers de la Pharmacie.

ABSTRACT The Global Fund has agreed to accept in-kind payment in lieu of cash for $27.4 million in recoveries owed by Ghana. The recoveries stem from losses incurred when a fire destroyed the central medical stores warehouse in 2015. This is the first time that the Fund has agreed to such an arrangement.

ABSTRACT The Office of the Inspector General says that in-country supply chain mechanisms are neither adequate nor effective in ensuring that the right products are delivered in the correct quantities and condition, at the right place and time, and for the best value cost. This is the central conclusion of an audit of the Global Fund’s in-country supply chain processes.

ABSTRACT The e-marketplace is an online procurement platform where buyers will be able to view and procure a broad range of products to be used in health programs. Between 10 and 20 countries are expected to participate in 2016.

ABSTRACT The aim of the new market-shaping strategy adopted by the Board is to allow the Fund to play a more active role in shaping market dynamics to increase access to health products. The strategy includes a section on preparing for when countries transition away from Fund support. It also explicitly supports efforts by countries to keep the costs of medicines low, including through generic competition.

ABSTRACT Two new reports on audits conducted by the Office of the Inspector General found that controls were adequate in some areas but inadequate in others. The Rwanda audit focused as much on the implementation of the results-based financing pilot as on the grants themselves.