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Community &iCCM &Procurement Supply Management &Treatment Bill Brieger | 06 Aug 2015 07:55 am

RSAP Themed Issue on Pharmaceutical Logistics for integrated Community Case Management (iCCM) – Call for Papers

RSAP_v11_i4_COVER.inddA themed issue for Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy (RSAP at http://www.journals.elsevier.com/research-in-social-and-administrative-pharmacy/) will feature the challenges of guaranteeing regular and adequate pharmaceutical supplies and commodities for integrated Community Case Management (iCCM). iCCM can be described as a comprehensive approach to providing essential health services in and by the community. iCCM relies on having basic commodities like Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) and artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) medicines for malaria, oral rehydration solution (ORS) packets and zinc for diarrhea, in addition to appropriate antibiotics like amoxicillin and cotrimoxazole for pneumonia available in the community.

Early successes describing the documentation of need and initial procurement of these essential therapies in developing nations have been published; however, this themed issue will share original research, models, and expert commentaries on ensuing stages in procurement and supply chain management (PSM) that will sustain iCCM.

PSM/logistical success for iCCM can occur in countries that have a department or unit that focuses on community health promotion and supports standardized training and equipping of Community Health Workers (CHWs) even in small villages. Unfortunately, most programs lack adequate procurement and supply management systems, especially planning and forecasting. Front-line health center staff who train and supervise village-based iCCM volunteers express concern about the difficulty in acquiring enough medicines for their own clinical needs, let alone supplies for volunteer community health workers.

DSCN5479Other programs reserve iCCM only for selected communities in a catchment area based on distance or availability of community health extension/auxiliary workers. There are also examples of iCCM that are narrowly focused on one or two health problems, while others take a more comprehensive approach. Clearly each has different logistical concerns such as the generic issues of forecasting, procurement, shipping and storage, while others experience the difficulty obtaining funding support when many disease control programs have vertical financial streams.

There are various models for providing medicines at the community level. One is the pioneering work of the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) Tropical Disease Research (TDR) program in promoting Community-Directed Treatment with Ivermectin (CDTI) for River Blindness Control, which evolved into the Community Directed Intervention (CDI) approach for delivering basic health commodities by the community, itself.[1]

Policymakers, health organizations, and front-line clinicians often say, “no product, no program.” This themed issue will share the experiences and lessons of iCCM, both successes and challenges, to help the global health community see the need for more systematic planning of PSM for iCCM. International agencies and donors clearly recognize that alternative forms of essential health service delivery are needed to achieve coverage targets and save lives. The community as a source of care has a solid foundation as established at the International Conference on Primary Health Care, which produced global guidance through the Alma Ata Primary Health Care Declaration of 1978,[2] but in all those years, actualization of this ideal has been difficult for logistical reasons. This RSAP themed issue should not only help us understand the present challenges, but map a way forward to better access to essential health commodities in communities throughout the developing world.

The themed issue will include various contributions such as:

  • Commentary/Overview from the World Health Organization staff who have spearheaded the iCCM movement
  • Implementation/intervention research on:
    • The link between front-line clinics and community health workers/distributors in guaranteeing iCCM commodities
    • The challenge of providing iCCM commodities for use by nomadic populations
    • Provision of iCCM commodities by different types community workers
    • Successes and challenges in maintaining supplies and commodities for large-scale and national community primary health care programs
    • Comparative lessons from other community based programs such as family planning commodity distribution and home-based care for people living with HIV
  • Documented program experiences including:
    • The challenges of maintaining iCCM supplies and logistics in emergency situations, as with disaster refugee and outbreak situations
    • The role of donors and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in providing commodities.

We are still seeking additional contributions. If you have a paper or idea for one or more, please contact the guest editors. Papers must be submitted on the Elsevier RSAP platform at http://ees.elsevier.com/rsap/ by February 1, 2016 for publication in fall of 2016.

Guest Editors:

  • William R Brieger, MPH, DrPH, Professor, Department of International Health, Bloomberg School of Public health, The Johns Hopkins University; Senior Malaria Specialist, Jhpiego; RSAP Editorial Board Member. <bbbrieger@yahoo.com>
  • Maria KL Eng, MPH, PhD, Departmental Associate, Department of International Health, Bloomberg School of Public health, The Johns Hopkins University; Instructor for “Pharmaceuticals Management for Under-Served Populations” <meng@jhu.edu>

[1] http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/88/7/09-069203/en/

[2] http://www.who.int/dg/20080915/en/

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