Supply Chain Epidemiology - facts and concept - part 1

In 2015, I published a series of articles reflecting on a new area of my work I called supply chain epidemiology. I reflected on what it was, what it can do, and why it is needed to be part of the overall health system strengthening approach and, more importantly, to be part of the global health practices. In the light of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the stress it had on the global pharmaceutical supply chain, I decided to revisit those articles and reflect on them again. I am posting those articles as were written in 2015 which will be followed by a blog on the next generation of public health practices.

"In recent years, the role of the supply chain in public health disease prevention and control has received limited attention. Even though supply chain research in the private sector has produced substantial input into a firm's profitability, competitive advantage, and return-on-investment, this concept is yet to receive the desired attention in public health. As a result, the contribution of supply chain in disease control and prevention is not realized by policymakers and public health practitioners. As part of my PhD program, I developed an area of study called "supply chain epidemiology", which is aimed at highlighting the contribution of the supply chain to disease prevention. Using the concept of disease control and prevention, the use of chemotherapy drugs for the control of neglected tropical diseases has been established in the research literature. For instance, literature shows a drastic reduction in the macrophilia population in lymphatic filariasis endemic communities after six successful annual mass drugs administration in Tanzania1. For this reason, the World Health Organization, through the Global Partnership for the Elimination of Lymphatic Filariasis recommended the annual mass drugs administration (MDA) as an intervention for the control and subsequent elimination of tropical diseases by the year 2020. However, successful annual coverage of MDA has been impacted by the distribution of essential therapeutic drugs in low and middle-income countries2. As a result, the potential elimination of tropical diseases by 2020 remains under thread due to limited supply chain infrastructure in resource-limited countries.

Using the World Bank's Logistics Performance Index (LPI), I demonstrated that resource-limited developing countries ranked lower in logistics and supply chain capacity than their developing country counterparts; impacting their global competitiveness, human development, and disease prevention3. In light of this, there is a potential quantitative relationship between the supply chain capacity of a country and its ability to distribute essential chemotherapy drugs for disease prevention. Applying the theory of Structure Factors in Disease Prevention4, I demonstrated that there is a relationship between supply chain capacity and disease prevention in resource-limited low and middle-income countries. Therefore, investigating this relationship will have important social change implications by providing policymakers, public health practitioners, and infectious disease endemic communities with critical structural factors impacting on disease prevention. Thus, the conceptual relations, where supply chain concepts inform disease prevention strategies, is what I called "Supply Chain Epidemiology". It is my hope that, with this initial thought, public health practitioners will rekindle their interest in supply chain research in order to strengthen the theoretical and practical application of this area of study to public health practice."

References:

1. Simonsen et al, (2013). Lymphatic Filariasis control in Tanzania: effect of six rounds of MDA with ivermectin and albendazole on infection and transmission. BMC Infectious Diseases, 13(1), 335.

2. Krentel et al, (2013). A review of factors that influence individual compliance with MDA for the elimination of Lymphatic Filariasis. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 7(11).

3. Guner & Coskun (2012). Comparison of the impact of economic and social factors on countries' logistics performance: a study of OECD countries. Research in Logistics & Production, 2(4), 330 - 343.

4. Cohen et al, (2000). A structural model of health behavior: A pragmatic approach to explain and influence health behaviors at the population level. Preventive Medicine, 30(2), 146 - 154.

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