Heath and humanitarian
crisis supply chains need to
be flexible and resilient and
not be limited by geographic
borders.
This was one of the
major takeaways from
a workshop focusing on
lessons learnt around the
2014 response to the Ebola
outbreak in Liberia, West
Africa during last month’s
Gordon Institute of Business
Science (Gibs) Health and
Humanitarian Logistics
Conference 2015.
“The
unpredictable
nature of
the disease –
which spread
rapidly across
regions, cities
and borders
– meant that
the logistics
strategy had to
be constantly
adapted,”
said James
Dorbor Jallah,
executive director of the
Liberia Public Procurement
and Concessions Commission
(LPPCC).
Furthermore, since the
disease was not confined
to Liberia but spread
rapidly across West Africa,
it was also important to
eliminate border stops and
ensure that vital health
and humanitarian supplies
could move through the
borders quickly.
“There
were also
so many aid
organisations
sending
supplies to
meet a myriad
needs – and
therefore,
hundreds of
cargo owners
– which
eventually saw
the respective
governments
having to step in and act
as the intermediary in
the supply chain, taking
responsibility for storage,
clearance and distribution,”
said Jallah, adding that
government and aid workers
suddenly needed to acquire
logistics skills.
According to him, at the
start of the outbreak, the
first aid supplies arrived
by air, landing at Liberia’s
tiny Roberts International
Airport. “We had a major
congestion problem at the
airport and very limited
storage space for supplies.
We had to construct a
makeshift storage area at
a nearby sports stadium
and then develop a rapid
response distribution system
as well as an effective
warehouse management
system,” Jallah explained
Another huge challenge,
he pointed out, was working
with a variety of stakeholder
organisations, all of which
had their systems and
procedures in place for
dealing with a health crisis.
“Not being on the ground
with us they didn’t always
understand the reality of not
having enough storage space
or the fact that the nature
and spread of the disease
kept changing and therefore
the distribution models
needed to be constantly
updated,” Jallah said.
This often meant that
there were bureaucratic
hold-ups on the release
of urgently needed
supplies. To manage that
challenge, a central logistics
communications system
was established and small
demand information
clusters created around this
to be able to better respond
to urgent distribution needs.
According to Jallah,
collaboration, informationsharing
and on-the-ground
training are some of the
most crucial elements at
the heart of a successful aid
and humanitarian crisis
supply chain.
INSERT & CAPTION
We had a major
congestion problem
at the airport and
very limited storage
space for supplies.
– James Dorbor Jallah
INSERT
Renewed Ebola outbreak
Shortly after the
conference concluded
last month, three
new cases of Ebola
were announced
in Liberia and the
country had to place
over 150 people under
surveillance in an
attempt to control a
new outbreak.
These cases emerged
more than two
months after the
country was declared
free of the virus by
the World Health
Organisation (WHO).
