The path to performance of public versus private healthcare supply chains: case study of Uganda

What is it about?

Improving performance of healthcare supply chains (HCSCs) remains a priority in Low- and Middle- Income Countries (LMICs). Studies highlight the importance of inter-organizational collaboration for superior HCSC performance, a challenge still faced by LMICs due to fragmented practices. Therefore, this study explores the interrelationships between different dimensions of collaboration and supply chain (SC) performance. We found that monitoring supply chain flow and stock accumulation provided alerts for stockout and expiration, which are the commonly tracked SC performance indicators in both public and private HCSCs. Significant frequent stockouts occurred in public and low-level health facilities in comparison to the private and high-level ones. Increased presence of collaboration dimensions such as shared benefits, SC relationships, adherence to government guidelines, information technology, inventory management, and order processing resulted in higher performance in both public and private HCSCs in Uganda. We propose a holistic framework for SC collaboration to complement fragmented collaboration practices and enable more effective interventions in HCSCs in LMICs.

Featured Image