The USAID Global Health Supply Chain Program-Procurement and Supply Management (GHSC-PSM) project operates worldwide to strengthen supply chain systems to improve the availability of quality medicines and medical supplies. The project includes a dedicated workstream that targets commodities to address health threats to mothers, newborns, and children and for Zika-related prevention.
Working with national governments, NGOs, and other partners, GHSC-PSM contributes to the Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG3) and USAID's commitment to Prevent Child and Maternal Deaths global effort to prevent child and maternal deaths and seeks to:
- Reduce child deaths to fewer than 25 per 1,000 live births in every country.
- Reduce maternal deaths to a global average of fewer than 70 per 100,000 live births by 2030.
GHSC-PSM strengthens supply chains for maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) commodities through the following technical assistance and procurement activities in 23 countries:
The project contributes to the U.S. government’s goal of ensuring access to medicines and supplies where and when women and children need them, established under the U.N. Commission on Life Saving Commodities for Women and Children. The project contributes to and participates in related technical discussions and working groups, such as the Maternal Health Supplies Caucus of the Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition, Postpartum Hemorrhage Community of Practice, The Every Newborn Action Plan (ENAP), Medical Commodities and Technologies, Technical Working Group (TWG), and The Child Health Task Force. GHSC-PSM closely collaborates with other USAID programs including but not limited to The Medicines, Technologies, and Pharmaceutical Services (MTaPS) Program and Promoting the Quality of Medicines Plus (PQM+) Program.
In all countries, the project prioritizes coordination with national programs and technical working groups to develop strategies that incorporate MNCH issues. GHSC-PSM also collaborates with other in-country partners, service delivery projects and key stakeholders to ensure MNCH commodities are available when and where they are needed.
Strong supply chains also enable countries to better manage emerging threats to mothers and newborns, such as the Zika outbreak in Central and South America and the Caribbean. GHSC-PSM began supporting Zika response and preparedness efforts in 2017. In addition to emergency procurement of commodities to reduce Zika transmission, the project has conducted emergency supply chain workshops in the region using the Emergency Supply Chain Playbook.
For a summary of GHSC-PSM’s MNCH work, download our fact sheet or visit our Improving Maternal and Child Health key initiative page.
