Dr. Umaru's Blog on Health & Development

In my last posting, I discussed supply chain epidemiology, concepts and practice - and received a lot of commendation for the initiation of this topic. I am excited that within the fraternity, we are building consensus on the need to expand the scope of the supply chain in responding to disease prevention and control. I am particularly interested in how we can demonstrate that supply chain principles can have or are having a significant impact on disease prevention. It is only when we are able to quantitatively demonstrate the relationship between supply chain practices and disease prevention that we can make a meaningful impact on global public health practice. Today, I trace the historical application of supply chain principles to private and industrial organization's performance. I will also highlight the practical perspective of the application of supply chain principles to healthcare. Whiles at it, I will demonstrate the theoretical challenges of using the supply chain to dise...

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...

Today, I reflect on the ongoing COVID-19 and the efforts, the resources, and the finances that are committed to addressing the impact of the pandemic on lower and middle-income countries, especially in Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA). A couple of these countries have done very well in controlling the effect of the pandemic on their population. These countries are Rwanda,  South Africa, Egypt, and Ghana with a very strong leadership commitment to protecting their population from the impact of the pandemic. Other countries, including Nigeria, Senegal, and Cameroon are on the trajectory of controlling the pandemic in their respective economies. These countries have the advantage of learning from other Africa Union member states on strategies and approaches to bring the pandemic under control. It may be that the impact of the pandemic was not as predicted in Africa, but suffice to predict that a long term exists strategic approach is needed for Africa to sustainably come of the current and fut...

It's been more than 6 months since the outbreak of the coronavirus and the declaration of COVID-19 as the global public health issue. As of today, more and more countries and states are struggling to respond to the rising scale of the pandemic. In the United States, states are opening their economies because of lower COVID-19 numbers reported. However, as of today June 28, 2020, states like Florida, Texas, and Mississipi are slowing down their opening because of increasing infection of COVID-19. This is by no means to say the pandemic is at its peak in these states but to respond to suddenly increased infections.  This situation shows that collective responses are needed across states in order to achieve universal control. Blood collection tubes Whereas developed countries like the United States are focusing on responding to the pandemic with minimum disruption of services in other disease areas, the same cannot be said of developing countries with burdened or weak health sys...

Welcome back to my blog and thank you for your time and patience. I know you have a lot of choices of what to read and where to seek information, but your choice of reading my blog is one of the most important uses of your time. Thank you! COVID-19 By now, you have heard of the global pandemic of COVID-19 that has taken more than 100,000 lives in the United States as of today June 10, 2020, with 7.3M confirmed cases globally. You have also been affected by the continuing lockdown and restriction of things that you will normally be doing in your daily lives. You now have a "new normal" that you have to deal with. You have been asked to "stay home" and do not go out if you are not an essential worker or if you are not going for groceries. So, for this reason, you have heard of and you are affected by COVID-19. You may not have been exposed or even infected with the disease, but events around you have gotten you to ask questions on "what is COVID-19?" How ...

Farouk Adams Umaru, PhD (Public Health)  I am excited to start sharing my knowledge, experience, and expertise to so many people out there who are in constant need of information on how to go about simple daily work-life balance. In this blog, I intent to share basic but specialized information on trending, experiences, and learning that will benefit me, you, and all of us about public health laboratory systems in particular, public health interventions in general. Hematology Analyzer in a resource-limited setting. To introduce myself, I am a public health enthusiast who spent most of my adult life working for public health institutions and organizations to help prevent, and monitor emerging diseases and pandemic of public health interest. I have worked in multiple countries in Africa (Ghana, Namibia, Zambia) and lead multiple public health projects in over 34 countries in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, while mentoring many young and upcoming colleagues interested ...