In humanitarian emergencies, logistics and supply chain management ensure quick and appropriate delivery of supplies to populations in need — often making the difference between life and death.
This is even more true in the context of the Ebola epidemic currently ravaging Western Africa, an extremely time-pressed emergency where the slightest gap or delay in the logistics response can result in an instant increase in suffering and life loss.
The very nature of relief supply chains is to operate in dynamic and chaotic environments. But in the face of the largest Ebola outbreak ever recorded, achieving the well-established humanitarian goal of delivering the right supplies in the right quantities to the right locations at the right time has proven to be a massive — and mostly unique — challenge, even for the most seasoned emergency responders.