Enabling health supply chains for improved well-being

ABSTRACT

Health supply chains are necessary for effective health service delivery as they not only provide appropriate health outputs but also have the potentials to create and deliver cost-effective outcomes in line with the economic, social, and cultural conditions of a country. There is a need, therefore, to investigate ways to create functionally appropriate enabling environments that will largely be dependent upon the economic developmental levels in which health supply chains are considered. Under this backdrop, the current study helps in identifying the key enablers for the health supply chains which when present will contribute towards strengthening the health coverage and improving overall well-being. The enabling environment of health supply chains will include the broad structure within which individuals and organisations function. The different enablers are grouped into four broad categories namely (i) people and processes, (ii) systems and data, (iii) investments, and (iv) policies. The study attempts to delineate an integrated model of health supply chain enablers and their role in improving overall well-being. The model is further investigated with Kenya as a case study to understand the impact of the enablers on quality of life and improved well-being.

KEYWORDS:

• Health supply chains
• enabling environment
• well-being
• quality of life

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lakshmy Subramanian

Lakshmy Subramanian holds a Ph.D. in Development Economics. She is currently engaged as an Applied Economics Researcher at Cranfield University (UK). Her research interests include growth and development, household decision making and trends in consumption, poverty and inequality, public health, public policy, health supply chains, sustainability, and well-being, etc. Her current research focusses on deepening stakeholder knowledge of public health supply chains in low- and middle-income countries by combining economic modelling and supply chain knowledge to support countries in the sustainable transformation of health supply chains.