Tuyishime Anitha, Hahirwa Innocent, Njunwa Kato Jonas, Nyiligira John
EAC Regional Centre of Excellence for Vaccines, Immunization, and Health Supply Chain Management, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Rwanda, P.O. Box 3286, Kigali, Rwanda.
School of Medicine and Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Rwanda, P.O. Box 3286, Kigali, Rwanda.
BMC Health Serv Res. 2025 Jan 14;25(1):75. doi: 10.1186/s12913-025-12239-1.
Strong partnerships, community engagement, and multisectoral collaboration in the health supply chain are synergistic pillars towards achieving universal health coverage. In Rwanda, the health supply chain involves the collaboration of various stakeholders, including distributors, manufacturers, wholesalers, and customers. However, since the eruption and ending of COVID-19, there has not been any study to assess stakeholders' perspectives on the status of the benefits, challenges, and best practices of collaborative partnerships among health supply chain stakeholders in Rwanda. Therefore, this research was conducted to fill that gap in order to devise ways for improved visibility, coordination, and efficiency of the health supply chain management system in Rwanda.
This quantitative cross-sectional study, collected data from 11th April to 18th May 2024. It involved 103 respondents from 54 institutions engaged in the management of the health commodities supply chain in Rwanda. These were the Ministry of Health, Rwanda Biomedical Center, Rwanda Food and Drugs Authority, Rwanda Medical Supply Ltd, other Central Medical Stores namely Bureau des Formations Médicales Agréées du Rwanda (BUFMAR) and Medical and Allied Service Solutions (MEDIASOL); private wholesale pharmacies, non-government organizations, and Health Facilities (hospitals). A sample size of 103 respondents was determined by the Yamane formula, and purposive sampling was used to select the respondents to complete a self-administered questionnaire specifically developed for this study. The outcome measures were perceived benefits, challenges, and strategies to overcome challenges of collaborative partnerships among health supply chain stakeholders in Rwanda.
Availability of health commodities ranked at 98.0%, infrastructure/accessibility of health services (86.4%), and cost-effectiveness (84.5%) were the most mentioned benefits. Most stated challenges included insufficient financial resources from stakeholders (84.5%), shortage of skilled staff (77.7%), and limited dialogue or lack of information sharing (69.9%). Most respondents agreed that collaborative partnerships can be improved by political will (96.1%), supply performance measurement (92.2%), improved financing policies (84.5%), fostering trust and transparency building (78.6%), and a well-structured health supply chain (72.5%).
Establishing and strengthening stakeholder collaborations are essential for improved performance. Staff capacity strengthening and mutual information sharing will reduce risks, and improve forecasting, leading to cost-effectiveness and customer satisfaction.
在卫生供应链中建立强大的伙伴关系、社区参与和多部门协作是实现全民健康覆盖的协同支柱。在卢旺达，卫生供应链涉及包括经销商、制造商、批发商和客户在内的各种利益相关者的协作。然而，自新冠疫情爆发和结束以来，尚未有任何研究评估利益相关者对卢旺达卫生供应链利益相关者之间合作关系的益处、挑战和最佳实践状况的看法。因此，开展这项研究以填补这一空白，从而设计出提高卢旺达卫生供应链管理系统的透明度、协调性和效率的方法。
这项定量横断面研究于2024年4月11日至5月18日收集数据。研究涉及卢旺达54个从事卫生商品供应链管理的机构的103名受访者。这些机构包括卢旺达卫生部、卢旺达生物医学中心、卢旺达食品药品管理局、卢旺达医疗用品有限公司、其他中央医疗用品商店，即卢旺达认可医学培训局（BUFMAR）和医疗及相关服务解决方案公司（MEDIASOL）；私人批发药店、非政府组织和卫生机构（医院）。通过Yamane公式确定了103名受访者的样本量，并采用目的抽样法选择受访者来完成专门为本研究设计的自填式问卷。结果指标包括卢旺达卫生供应链利益相关者之间合作关系的感知益处、挑战以及克服挑战的策略。
卫生商品的可获得性排名为98.0%，卫生服务的基础设施/可达性（86.4%）和成本效益（84.5%）是提及最多的益处。大多数指出的挑战包括利益相关者的财政资源不足（84.5%）、熟练工作人员短缺（77.7%）以及对话有限或缺乏信息共享（69.9%）。大多数受访者同意，可以通过政治意愿（96.1%）、供应绩效评估（92.2%）、改进融资政策（84.5%）、促进信任和透明度建设（78.6%）以及构建完善的卫生供应链（72.5%）来改善合作关系。
建立和加强利益相关者之间的合作对于提高绩效至关重要。加强人员能力和相互信息共享将降低风险，并改善预测，从而实现成本效益和客户满意度。
