Nurses at work at a tuberculosis hospital in Ibadan, Nigeria.

In 2016, the Global Fund, Nigerian government and other key partners initiated the National Supply Chain Integration Project (NSCIP) to address the country’s health product supply chain challenges. Issues included, parallel supply chains, low capacity and inadequate reporting, inefficiencies due to poor coordination and sub-standard warehousing. These challenges resulted in frequent stock-outs, poor availability of medicines, millions of dollars in expired drugs, and long lead times.

The Nigerian government and donors recognized a concerted effort was needed to integrate supply chains and deliver structural change. Together with the government, the Global Fund and donors targeted efforts to improve data visibility, coordinate government authorities, optimize warehousing and distribution networks, and manage supply levels at the State level.

NSCIP has achieved improvements across key supply chain performance areas, and improved visibility has helped in the proactive re-distribution of products before expiry. This means that medicines and health products can reach patients who need them most, when they need them.

NSCIP demonstrates the key Global Fund principle of country ownership and partnership. The Global Fund continues to work closely with the Nigerian government to further strengthen capacity to ensure full country ownership of the supply chain, supported by third party logistics providers and partners. The success in Nigeria was not an isolated effort; it required tremendous cooperation and coordinated funding with many partners in-country. Without the support of partners, implementation would not have been possible.

The Global Fund / Andrew Esiebo