HHSCM Alumni Spotlight

When applying for the program I wanted to use the lessons learned in the current Essential Medicines Program in Kenya, where at Clinton Health Access Initiative we support government to formulate solutions to address public health challenges. For instance, a lot of the supply chain lessons will be applied directly to improve the national medical oxygen roll-out strategy. I expected to use what I learned to improve the development of models and efficiency derived from better forecasting & quantification, ultimately leading to the maximum impact possible in the public health sector in Kenya and beyond. I learned that different settings require different decisions, assumptions, and trade-offs; As such, there is need for some level of understanding of the area in which you work to optimally plan supply chain matters logistics here in my country.

My greatest accomplishments since completing the course have been my ability to do more work in public health supply chain to improve access to life-saving commodities. Key supply chain lessons such as, managing uncertainty, forecasting and game theories, from the HHSCM course have been instrumental in my contribution to supply chain conversations and contributions. I have had the privilege of participating in formulation of national supply chain policy/strategies and lessons from HHSCM course have been very helpful. For this, I am thankful to Georgia Tech, and importantly UPS.

I am now at the Africa Resource Centre (ARC) working as the Research & Capacity Building Lead where tools, and methods learned from HHSCM such as forecasting learnings and the case studies, especially the milk distribution study have been helpful. These elements are important especially now that we are focusing on Universal Health Coverage in Africa, which can only be possible with resilient/agile supply chains (better planning, optimal distribution (last mile distribution) etc.).

In 5 years, I see myself taking up more strategic roles in the public health/global health space focusing on improving access to medicines (across the supply chain) in Africa.