GH-TAMS is recruiting Senior Supply Chain Systems Advisor candidates for a six-month consultancy that will be a mix of remote work and in-country support. Approximate start date is January 24th. As described below, the position is multifaceted but core responsibilities will be to provide technical advice and guidance regarding health commodities and supply chain requirements to USAID and USG staff and IPs in order to optimize financing, forecasting, procurement, quality assurance, warehousing and distribution, information management systems, monitoring, evaluation and reporting at the national and facility level.
Background
Uganda’s Health Commodities and Supply Chain Landscape
According to Uganda’s 2015 National Medicine Policy and the National Pharmaceutical Sector Strategic Plan 2015-2020 (NPSSP), the Ugandan pharmaceutical sector includes both public and private actors. The private sector consists of both private not-for-profit (PNFP) and private for-profit (PFP) sites. The PFP actors are concentrated in urban centers and engaged mainly in the sale of pharmaceuticals. The Ministry of Health (MOH) sets policy and strategic direction while district governments engage in service delivery under Uganda’s decentralized health care delivery model. MOH through the Pharmacy Department (MoH/PD) is responsible for the overall coordination of the pharmaceutical sector, as well as for providing oversight of policy implementation. Moreover, MoH/PD is responsible for quantifying national requirements for pharmaceutical products and harmonization of the supply chain management system, as well as promoting rational use of pharmaceutical products.
While MoH/PD has overarching authorities, it is by no means the only supply chain actor. Other major partners include:
● The National Drug Authority (NDA), the national medicines regulatory agency, assures the quality of all medical commodities that enter the country and operates a drug quality control laboratory which has been prequalified by WHO since January 2015.
● The Health Monitoring Unit (HMU) was officially created in the Office of the President with independent authority and mandate to investigate misuse of healthcare resources, including medicine mismanagement, e.g., suspected commodity leakage and/or counterfeit substitutions.
● The National Medical Stores (NMS) and the Joint Medical Stores (JMS), two health supply chain systems financed through the Government of Uganda, together supply the full range of commodities needed to support health care service delivery in Uganda in the public and PNFP sectors.
- GOU manages the NMS which was established as a Statutory Corporation (i.e., parastatal) in 1993 by an Act of Parliament with the central responsibility for procuring, warehousing and distributing pharmaceutical products to all public health facilities.
- JMS, licensed by Uganda’s NDA to engage in import, export, wholesale of medicines and related health care supplies, is the leading and oldest private pharmaceutical store in Uganda engaged in procurement, warehousing and distribution of pharmaceutical products to 3,106 private health facilities.
● External development partners fund more than 70% of public expenditures on medicines and selected health commodities, and almost all funding for laboratory commodities. Direct public sector investments by several external development partners include: the Global Access for Vaccine and Immunization (GAVI), the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development office, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), USAID, The Global Fund and The World Bank.
Overview of USAID/Uganda’s Supply Chain Assistance and Support
All Mission activities are organized under USAID/Uganda’s Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS) for 2016-2021, with the following overall goal: Uganda’s Systems Are Accelerating Inclusive Education, Health and Economic Outcomes. The strategy seeks to address the impact that Uganda’s increasing demographic dividend will have on the ability of the Ugandan government to meet its population’s social service and development needs over the next twenty-five years. In particular, the strategy focuses on the average Ugandan who, statistically speaking, is a fourteen year old girl living in a rural community. USAID’s future vision intends to address impediments to her benefiting from education, health and economic programs, thus paving the way for an overall environment of inclusive growth for all Ugandans.
USAID provides support to Uganda’s health sector through its Office of Health and HIV/AIDS (OHH), which is the largest technical team in the Mission with over 50 staff positions and an average annual budget of US$280M. The OHH is divided into five teams: Malaria/Emerging Pandemic Threats, HIV/AIDS, Family Health, Strategic Information, and Health Systems Strengthening. OHH manages a wide array of programs, many of which are integrated in design. Each element of the portfolio contributes to country-led health program approaches that focus on integration of services; leveraging host country and other donor investments; strengthening health systems; a focus on women and girls; improved evaluation and innovation to promote adapting and learning; and science and technology.
OHH implements its programs through the public sector, the private not for profit sector, and the private for profit sector. Significant and complex components of the OHH portfolio include:
● Recognizing the global HIV/AIDS pandemic as one of the greatest health challenges of our time, the USG announced PEPFAR in 2003. PEPFAR Uganda received approximately US$403M in FY 2021 to support a comprehensive HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and treatment programs, including support for HIV commodity procurement, OVC, systems strengthening, and overall improvements in service delivery. Uganda also receives separate resources for Tuberculosis control ($5 million / year) and is managed by the HIV team.
● USAID/Uganda under the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) is managing the $35M per year malaria portfolio in close collaboration with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
● Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) activities support improved maternal and childhood nutrition, safer pregnancy and delivery, newborn care, vaccination coverage, improved well and sick-child capacity at health facilities, Oral Rehydration Salts and zinc, safe water, and improved availability and access to life-saving essential medicines and health supplies. Reproductive Health/Family Planning Programs (RH/FP) include activities to promote improved reproductive health through couple communication, health education, prevention of gender-based violence, fistula repair, improved family planning services, and by providing a supply of contraceptives to the public and the private sectors.
● Other initiatives through the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) include coordinating and contributing to USG epidemic preparedness activities for emerging pandemic threats including the COVID 19 pandemic. Uganda is also a priority country for the control and/or elimination of several “neglected” tropical diseases still endemic in Uganda.
As the largest international donor in the health sector in Uganda, and one of the largest donors of health commodities to the country, USAID has a major interest and role to play in ensuring efficient, accountable management of health commodity resources and improving the performance and sustainability of the country’s supply chain systems, and all of the above described OHH activities have important requirements for provisioning of health commodities. Having an adequate and continuous supply of quality health commodities for diagnostic, prevention and treatment services is critical to the success of U.S. Government (USG) health assistance to Uganda through PEPFAR, PMI, TB, maternal/child health, family planning and other USG programs operating in the health sector. OHH directly manages procurement of health commodities and supply chain technical assistance through USAID contractors including the Global Health Supply Chain-Procurement and Management Services (GHSC-PSM), and a bilateral supply chain technical assistance provided by the bilateral Uganda Health Supply Chain (UHSC) project.
HIV commodity security in Uganda is a continuing major concern due to systemic issues resulting from fragmented and uncoordinated national supply chain systems; flawed forecasting and quantification; and poor Government of Uganda (GOU) procurement practices. There remains long standing, inadequate funding for anti-retroviral (ARV) therapy (ART) in Uganda’s public sector (currently serving up to two thirds of all Ugandans on ART), challenges in ensuring adequate access to anti-malarial drugs and diagnostic test kits, and limited access to the full range of family planning methods. Commodity stock-outs continue to complicate the adoption of UNAIDS’ “Test and Start” policy and PEPFAR’s directive on Multi-Month Dispensing for those testing HIV-positive, provide regular treatment to TB patients, and the country’s ability to effectively address the high prevalence of malaria. Concerns of lack of transparency and visibility across data systems and the inability to track distribution down to the facility level have hobbled the public supply chain entity National Medical Stores (NMS).
As a global supply chain leader with experience in supply chain information systems, including the development and implementation of electronic Logistic Management Information Systems (eLMIS), Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) tools in several countries, USAID/Uganda has taken the lead in the development of the ERP in NMS. OHH is currently working closely with NMS to implement a comprehensive Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system to provide an integrated modular information platform for the national supply chain system in procurement; inventory management; warehouse management; customer sales; customer account management; distribution management; product costing; human resource management; performance management and reporting; and financial management system (accounts receivable, accounts payable, fixed assets, and budget management). With migration of the existing District Health Information Software (DHIS2) into the ERP system, Uganda will finally establish a comprehensive electronic logistics management system (eLMIS).
Role and Responsibilities
In light of the major supply chain reform efforts in which USAID/Uganda is in the process of taking over full leadership of USG supply chain efforts, as well as the cross-cutting nature of supply chain elements within the OHH portfolio that require technical and strategic support, USAID seeks to recruit a Senior Supply Chain Systems Advisor (SSCSA) who will:
● Conduct accurate and timely analysis of supply chain data for use by technical experts and leadership within the Office of Health and HIV and the interagency.
● Ensure that relevant supply chain data to guide strategic planning support is made available to OHH program and project staff as required.
● Support technical oversight of implementing partners working in the supply chain.
Technical Analysis and Guidance (60%)
● Conduct and provide data analytics to USAID and the interagency supply chain team.
● Ensure analyzes from different sources, including MoH, implementing partners (IPs), and other quantitative data sources are accurate, complete, comprehensive and in a presentable format to inform various stakeholders.
● Provide technical advice and guidance regarding health commodities and supply chain requirements to USAID and USG staff and IPs in order to optimize financing, forecasting, procurement, quality assurance, warehousing and distribution, information management systems, monitoring, evaluation and reporting at the national and facility level.
● Provide technical contributions to USG thematic groups, program designs, budget allocations, strategic planning documents and reporting mechanisms. Thematic groups include: interagency working groups including PEPFAR and PMI as applicable.
● Keep informed of national and international initiatives, policies and state-of-the-art developments related to health commodities and supply chain; share information as appropriate with various counterparts.
● Provide strategic advice to USAID/Uganda in identifying and applying innovative approaches and best practices to supply chain management goals with a focus on priority setting within a highly political environment.
● Serve as member of various USAID and interagency working groups and forums in planning and improving the USAID and USG portfolio on health systems strengthening related projects and activities in the public and private health sector of Uganda.
● Provide strategic advice in developing relationships with the private sector in Uganda to strengthen their supply chain management capacity, performance and sustainability.
Program Management (30%)
The SSCSA supports other USAID staff to manage a complex portfolio of health commodities and supply chain strengthening activities. This includes support to the planning, implementation, management, monitoring, results reporting, advocacy, and performance improvement of USAID’s health commodities and supply chain activities, and coordinating these activities as needed with other USAID/USG implementing health programs. Specific duties include:
● Forecasting, quantification, procurement, and distribution of USAID commodities including contraceptives, condoms, antiretroviral medicines, male circumcision kits, devices and supplies, HIV test kits, HIV laboratory reagents and supplies, anti-malaria medicines and rapid diagnostic tests, bed-nets, and other medical/laboratory equipment as required for the implementation of the health programs. All procurement activities are implemented in compliance with relevant USAID, USG, PEPFAR and PMI guidelines, policies, regulations and procedures.
● Provide significant technical assistance on health commodities and supply chain activities across the Mission, to address requirements under PEPFAR, PMI, family planning and other health programs. Ensure that all program activities are implemented in compliance with relevant USG, USAID, PEPFAR, PMI and family planning guidelines, policies, regulations and procedures.
● Participate in program design and technical review processes for new and/or follow-on supply chain management and other related awards.
Other Priorities (10%)
The SSCSA supports additional Mission priorities, including:
● Support regular reporting mechanisms and processes, to include U.S. Congressional, GOU, or donor group requests; technical briefings; trip reports; site visit briefing documents; speeches; portfolio reviews; quarterly, semi-annual and annual reports; quarterly financial reports; quality assessments; site monitoring reports.
● Prepare ad hoc reports as required for USAID/Uganda, USAID/Washington, the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator, donor coordination groups, and others. These reports include U.S. Congressional, GOU or donor group requests; technical briefings; trip reports; site visit briefing documents; and speeches.
● Contribute to development of mission reports, including PEPFAR Country Operational Plans, PMI and Family Health Team reports/plans; portfolio reviews; semi-annual and annual reports; quarterly financial reports; quality assessments; site monitoring reports.
Qualifications
• Master’s degree in public health, business administration, procurement, supply chain management, or a closely-related degree.
• A minimum twelve years of progressively responsible professional experience working in the health, logistics or supply chain management field. Experience in developing country settings is preferred.
• Expertise in evaluating/assessing systems related to health commodity forecasting and procurement, supply chains and logistics, and electronic logistics management information preferable.
• State-of-the art, specialized knowledge of technical and programmatic approaches in health commodity procurement and supply planning and supply chain systems strengthening. This includes demonstrated knowledge of the various supply chain system components (forecasting, procurement, warehousing, distribution, inventory management, logistics management information systems etc.) and practical strategies for improving system efficiencies and performance to enhance availability, affordability, accessibility and equitable allocation of public health commodities in the health sector, including Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) tools and solutions.
• Significant knowledge of program management and monitoring and evaluation methods.
• Experience working on PEPFAR will be an added advantage. Experience working in low resource setting is highly desirable.
• Demonstrated strategic thinking, decision-making and problem-solving skills, as well as the ability to effectively manage stress and conflict.
• Strong data analytics and familiarity with various quantitative tools for analysis including Microsoft Office software (such as excel, MS access) or other data analytical programs to inform program implementation.
• Excellent communication skills with proven capacity to effectively present supply chain information and analytical data to various stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to work and provide leadership in a team environment, coordinate well with others, and provide leadership in the areas of his/her competencies.
• Diplomacy, tact, negotiation skills, cultural sensitivity, and team participation skills are required in order to establish and maintain effective working relationships within USAID and with the public and private sectors.
• Strong organizational skills and ability to perform multiple tasks simultaneously, set priorities, and work in a team with diverse cultural backgrounds.
• Fluency in spoken and written English.
The Global Health Technical Assistance and Mission Support Project (GH-TAMS) is a five-year USAID-funded activity providing the Bureau for Global Health (GH) and USAID field missions with high quality technical expertise to achieve the Agency's foreign assistance global health mission. With start-up in the fall of 2019, GH-TAMS follows the success of the Global Health Program Cycle Improvement Project (GH Pro).
GH-TAMS technical assistance covers a broad range of technical areas and cross-cutting issues such as HIV/AIDS. family planning, MNCH, infectious disease, TB, health finance, reproductive health, organizational development, OVC, project design, facilitation, M&E and strategic planning.
Project assignments are located in Washington D.C. and worldwide in Africa, Asia and elsewhere. Assignments typically range from two weeks to six months in duration.
