IMG_4153.JPG

Our Experience:
A Long-Term Supply Chain Partner in Nigeria

Akesis has served as the leading supply chain partner in Nigeria for the last 15+ years.

2004-Ongoing

 

Situation

Nigeria’s complex decentralized health system gives significant importance to the role and responsibilities of the states, especially in the supply chain management and logistics for health commodities. Each state manages its own supply chain system, requiring significant coordination and collaboration with multiple local stakeholders. In addition, certain regions in the country, including the North, have remotely located populations with limited access to treatment and drugs.

On entering Nigeria in 2004 as supply chain partner in FHI’s USAID-funded GHAIN project, Akesis quickly recognized the inefficiencies of the multiple vertical, disease specific supply chain systems that existed there, and the deficiencies of an overly centralized, top-down approach to strengthening these supply chains.

In response, Akesis pioneered a range of innovations to address these issues in Nigeria, bringing to bear the latest thinking and technology to address root causes and improve integration and efficiencies at all levels of the supply chain.

Solution

Akesis has been the logistics partner for a number of major projects in Nigeria, and as such has managed warehousing, inventory, and distribution of health commodities, as well as strengthening of supply chain systems, particularly at State, LGA and health facility level.

These projects have included GHAIN (USAID/ FHI), its successor, SIDHAS (USAID/ FHI360), ACTION (CDC/UMD), ProACT (USAID/ MSH), PATHS2 (DFID/Abt Associates), and MNCH2 (DFID/Palladium), as well as NACA and NMEP, to which Axios has provided system strengthening and distribution services:

  • Key partner for SCMS, and more recently for GHSC-PSM, managing the 4 regional (“Axial”) warehouses in Awka, Calabar, Gombe and Sokoto that form the backbone of Nigeria’s current supply chain for PEPFAR and Global Fund commodities. Axios also manages Last-Mile Distribution services for PSM.

  • Supported the GHSC-PSM National Integrated Specimen Referral Network (NiRSN) in Nigeria, with Axios Laboratory Advisors in 11 states monitoring and overseeing the entire national network, ensuring secure, reliable delivery and tracking of specimens from health facilities throughout the country to Nigeria’s network of PCR laboratories, and timely and accurate delivery of diagnostic results back to health facilities.  

  • Led and implemented the CDC National EQA project, which included the establishment of an EQA Center for PEPFAR laboratories in Nigeria and a reference laboratory in Zaria.

Under these programs, Axios partnered with multiple state governments and implementing partners (IPs) and has worked in all 36 states in Nigeria, playing a key role in the establishment of MOU’s with state governments in order to facilitate state government engagement in national supply chain systems.

Akesis’ health systems strengthening activities to strengthen supply chains at the lower levels of the health system, many involving Akesis-led innovations, have also been implemented through the above projects.

  • Establishment of a network of 20 state-level advisors, located throughout Nigeria, to provide capacity building, technical assistance, and other support services to pharmacy and other relevant personnel at health facility level. This was the first such decentralized systems strengthening structure for supply chains (Via GHAIN project).

  • Through its engagement with state governments, Axios conceived and pioneered the concept of State Logistics Technical Working Groups. This proved to be highly successful, and later evolved into to the current national network of State LMCUs.

  • Ensured end-to-end visibility within the supply chain using the Akesis Delivery System (ADS), a proprietary and validated Electronic Proof of Delivery (ePOD) System developed by Akesis.

Results

Akesis’ activities in Nigeria are now supporting supply chains for HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria, RMNCH, family planning, essential medicines, and laboratory commodities.

By designing, implementing and utilizing versatile systems that can serve multiple donors and disease programs in Nigeria, Akesis is continuing to provide its donors and stakeholders with efficiencies and savings in the supply chain.