The five fundamentals in action.
Effective vaccine management (EVM) data helps countries to guide and prioritise investments in strengthening supply chains, from the national level down to health facilities and communities.

SUPPLY CHAIN PERFORMANCE
In 2017, Gavi-supported countries achieved an average EVM score of 68%, up from 67% in 2016. It is clear that countries and partners have made important strides towards implementing our supply chain strategy:
- By the end of 2017, 34 countries had been approved for funding for more than 66,000 new, energy-efficient refrigerators under our cold chain equipment optimisation platform.
- Supply chain leaders in 15 Gavi-supported countries met competency requirements, having completed the STEP leadership programme to build management skills and competencies.
- 54 countries have conducted at least two supply chain management EVM assessments, 35 of which demonstrated improvements.
- More than 30 countries are using various information systems to monitor their stock and manage their cold chain inventories.
- System design analyses had been initiated in 11 countries by the end of 2017; 7 of these were already implementing their findings to improve the efficiency of their supply chains.
EVM-DRIVEN IMPROVEMENTS
Pakistan: leadership, accountability and better equipment
Pakistan has established supply chain working groups at both federal and provincial levels of government, and made them fully accountable for monitoring and implementing supply chain improvement plans. UNICEF provides capacity building support.
The working groups and other stakeholders now have access to better data and real-time stock information thanks to improvements in vaccine logistics management information systems, guided by private sector partners. This has already led to a successful review of cold chain equipment inventory and needs, and the subsequent approval of Pakistan’s application for support through the Gavi cold chain equipment optimisation platform.
Mozambique: data, modernisation and system redesign
EVM data suggested significant gaps in Mozambique’s cold chain equipment. As a result, the country is using Gavi health system strengthening funding to invest in high-performing cold chain solutions that can carry vaccines over the last mile. Mozambique is also rolling out remote temperature monitoring devices. These help technicians and logisticians ensure that cold chain equipment can function continuously, reducing the risk of damaged and wasted vaccines.
With support from Village Reach, the country has rolled out a nationwide project to redesign the supply chain at the provincial level. The initiative is overseen by a national committee funded through the Gavi partners’ engagement framework.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo: Improvement planning and redesign
Using Gavi HSS funds, the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC’s) Ministry of Health is preparing to build a new warehouse that will provide storage for vaccines and immunisation products alongside products for other public health programmes. This will help to strengthen integrated health delivery.
Learnings from the redesign work have also helped to inform DRCs selection of more than 2,500 new high-performing cold chain devices procured with Gavi HSS funds. Collaboration with the private sector helped ensure that all of the devices were installed in just 10 months – a record achievement.
PARTNERSHIPS AND INNOVATION
Creating better leaders
Since 2015, Gavi has partnered with the global logistics company United Parcel Service (UPS) and the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Wholesalers (IFPW) among others, to roll out the Strategic Training Executive Programme (STEP) for supply chain managers.
Read about the STEP programme in Rwanda
Read about the STEP programme in Benin
In addition to IFPW’s support to STEP, the industry association has worked to launch the East African Community’s Centre of Excellence in Rwanda, through direct funding and managerial support and has committed to support the centre up to 2019. In addition, IFPW’s support has provided scholarships and technical assistance to the LOGIVAC Centre in Benin The partnership continues to support the fundamental pillar of Alliance Supply Chain strategy, building capacity at all levels of the supply chain.
Going the last mile
A partnership between Gavi, UPS and the Government of Rwanda leverages robotics expertise from the company Zipline. The partnership uses unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, developed by Zipline to overcome barriers to last-mile delivery of critical health products – eventually including vaccines. Read more
Efficient logistics
The Government of Kenya and Gavi are partnering with global logistics company DHL to develop and test a “transport support hub” aimed at improving the country’s vaccine supply chain logistics. The hub provides end-to-end visibility of the supply chain, helping to ensure maximum efficiency in the shipment and delivery of goods and products.
This solution could significantly reduce vaccine wastage and remove warehousing and transport inefficiencies. If expanded to other Gavi-supported countries, it could potentially save millions of dollars across supply chains in coming years.
Harnessing data for decision making
Through the Innovation for Uptake, Scale and Equity in Immunisation (INFUSE) initiative, Gavi is partnering with Nexleaf Analytics and Google.com to help countries modernise their cold chains. The "intelligent maintenance and procurement tool", developed by Nexleaf, evaluates refrigerator temperature data collected by remote temperature monitoring and maintenance devices across the cold chain. It has the potential to help countries make better, data-driven decisions about cold chain equipment, as well as facilitates long-term maintenance strategies. Read more