Procurement plays a critical role in ensuring the continuous availability of essential medicines and quality health commodities at an affordable price for the people that need them. This calls for the need to have efficient procurement systems in place.
The course pays special attention to tender management and guides the the participant through all steps of the tender process (planning, developing tender documentation, tender evaluation & contract management).
This course session is a closed session, offered for participants of National Medical Supplies Fund, Khartoum, Sudan. If you want to know more about this course, contact info@iplusacademy.org. Thank you for your interest.
- Lead facilitator: Eva van Tol
This short introductory course offers basic concepts and exercises on the quantification of medicines and health products.
This is a free and open online course without facilitation.
This course provides an introduction to HIV/AIDS and how it is managed using antiretroviral therapy. It offers general information about the disease itself, its prevalence, mode of transmission and etiology, and the common therapy and treatment. Special focus is given to the challenges in access and availability of ARV medicines in low and middle income countries.
This course will equip participants with a basic understanding of the disease malaria, its diagnosis and treatment. It is primarily designed for people who do not come from a health background and who are new to this field. The course has been developed internally by i+solutions based on years of experience in procurement of antimalarials under Global Fund grants.
This is a open online course without facilitation. Once you have completed all activities (100%), you will be awarded an e-badge certifying successful course completion.
In 2017, over 20 students will be able to follow an i+academy course free of charge with the i+scholarship. Applications for 2018 will open in November 2017.
- Lead facilitator: iplus scholarship
This course is designed to introduce you to good warehousing practices for pharmaceuticals and medical laboratory supplies and its application within the health system. We will look at warehouse operations in details covering the receipt, storage and dispatch of essential health commodities.
In the health sector, there is a growing interest in the development and use of indicators as tools for monitoring the quality and performance of the supply chain management of medicines and medical supplies. The use of these tools can assist countries in monitoring progress in program implementation, evaluate performance objectively and revise strategies on the basis of systematic assessment. Improved M&E can contribute significantly towards better planning and management of the supply chain in order to promote efficient and sustainable access to medicines.
The course is designed for experienced professionals involved in SCM. They will learn how to systematically use these indicators to monitor the progress, evaluate the performance and improve the program. Donor agencies, project leaders, and technical and implementing agencies will also benefit from using these tools to harmonize information demands and compare programs across different countries.
- Lead facilitator: Griet Samyn
Laboratory services are essential for successful management many diseases. The management of diseases requires availability of quality laboratory services that meet the need for diagnosis, monitoring and evaluation of treatment efficacy. To achieve this, a reliable and sustainable supply of essential laboratory supplies is required. The aim of the course is to apply the principles of supply chain management to the management of laboratory commodities in low and middle income countries.
- Lead facilitator: Martin Mugisha
There are many challenges ensuing from the increasing number of stakeholders in the health sector of developing countries. Different stakeholders often have different funding mechanisms and reporting requirements, which makes quantification of essential medicines and medical supplies more complicated. The course addresses the challenges faced during the forecasting and quantification of essential medicines, including HIV/AIDS medicines, antimalarials and TB medicines. It aims at building up the participants’ capacity to master the forecasting and quantification tasks and to decide for the appropriate procurement planning process based on a profound analysis of the data.
Laboratory services are essential for successful management many diseases. The management of diseases requires availability of quality laboratory services that meet the need for diagnosis, monitoring and evaluation of treatment efficacy. To achieve this, a reliable and sustainable supply of essential laboratory supplies is required. The aim of the course is to apply the principles of supply chain management to the management of laboratory commodities in low and middle income countries.
The course “Procurement of Medicines and Medical Supplies” covers every area of the procurement process with a special focus on procuring essential health commodities. To understand how medicines procurement differs from procurement of other goods, one needs to consider the key characteristics of medicines and health commodities in general (such as international non-proprietary name, storage conditions, shelf life, packaging, quality standards, regulatory requirements, psychotropics/narcotics and patents).
Procurement plays a critical role in ensuring the availability of essential quality-assured medicines at all times at an affordable price for the people that need them.
Often international donor organizations and governmental organizations are involved in funding medical programs, resulting in the need of professionally run procurement processes. This course pays special attention to meeting the most common donor requirements and public procurement regulations.
The course guides the student through all steps of the procurement process, such as supplier selection, how to select the best value offer, contracting, quality assurance, measuring supplier performance and much more.
The objective of the course is to provide students solid knowledge about and a good understanding of the procurement process that will help them implement and/or professionalize procurement processes.
The procurement course is suitable for procurement/purchase officers, logistic officers, health officers and professionals with a responsibility in procurement, members of tender committees, pharmacists, program managers and supply chain managers in the public and private sector.
Ensuring the quality of medicines is a major public health concern. The emergence of substandard and counterfeit medicines, coupled with inefficient supply chain systems, not only poses a risk of negative health outcomes but also leads to economic losses and lack of trust in the health system. To address these issues and develop evidence-based strategies, it is important that people at all levels, from policy makers to primary healthcare workers appreciate and comprehend the need for effective QA systems.
This course was offered on two levels. The introductory part introduced you to the concepts and main principles of quality assurance. The advanced course is intended for those of you who are interested in developing further skills and knowledge in different aspects of quality assurance such as pharmaceutical regulation, pharmacovigilance and quality control of medicines.
Supply chain management (SCM) is a key to ensure that resources are utilized optimally and reach their end-users. Developing countries spend up to a third of their healthcare budget on pharmaceuticals. SCM skills in managers and health workers alike are paramount to enhance the performance of the supply chain cycle of medicines and medical supplies and ensure the success of health programmes.
The course 'Introduction to Supply Chain Management in Healthcare' details all the steps and functions of the supply chain cycle and places each of these topics within the framework of health system strengthening. As such, it is an important tool for anyone seeking to build up the supply chain management capacity of their organisation.The course content has been developed by i+solutions experts based on years of experience as a pharmaceutical supply chain agent for various national and international organisations.
A lack of qualified human resource base in the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector is one of the challenges for pharmaceutical industries, especially in developing and emerging countries. Local manufacturers often struggle to compete and even survive. Not being in line with international quality standards, they are prevented from passing WHO pre-qualification, participating in international tenders and entering international markets.The national medicines regulatory agencies (NMRAs) of these countries are also often short of qualified staff, especially with regard to qualification in GMP, GMP inspection and dossier evaluation.
This e-learning course provides an introduction to the basic principles of GMP and GMP inspection, focusing on WHO GMP standards and requirements as one of the major GMPs. Course participants will develop an understanding about the importance of implementing GMP in their daily working routine, starting from personnel hygiene to quality documentation and many other GMP requirements. In the end, these capacity building measures in the area of GMP and GMP inspection will make the local pharmaceutical sector, including the NMRAs, better equipped for local production and regulation of quality assured essential medicines.
In the health sector, there is a growing interest in the development and use of indicators as tools for monitoring the quality and performance of the supply chain management of medicines and medical supplies. The use of these tools can assist countries in monitoring progress in program implementation, evaluate performance objectively and revise strategies on the basis of systematic assessment. Improved M&E can contribute significantly towards better planning and management of the supply chain in order to promote efficient and sustainable access to medicines.
The course is designed for experienced professionals involved in SCM. They will learn how to systematically use these indicators to monitor the progress, evaluate the performance and improve the program. Donor agencies, project leaders, and technical and implementing agencies will also benefit from using these tools to harmonize information demands and compare programs across different countries.
