Dear IAPHL Members,
Well it is hard to believe that we are already a month in to the new year! I hope this letter finds you well.
Just a brief update on activities in January. I hope those who joined our webinar on GS1 Global Standards in Healthcare found it as informative as I did. If you missed it, you can find the recording on our website.
We held our monthly Country Chapter Leaders meeting in English and also held a Francophone Country Chapter Leaders meeting. Many of the chapters have been able to energize the local members and have conducted important workshops. We posted our first blog on some of the country chapter achievements as recipients of our IAPHL country chapter grants.
I want to take this time to recognize the several organizations that have partnered with IAPHL in critical ways, providing much needed support to some of our country chapters.
I will begin with FAAL (Fédération Africaine des Associations des Logisticiens) or the English name of African Federation of Logistician Associations, and FAAL’s different affiliates. In the past year, FAAL has spearheaded the creation of new country chapters in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo. FAAL has also worked with many of our country chapters in Africa, where the FAAL chapter has coordinated with the IAPHL country chapter, so that IAPHL serves as the point of contact for all health supply chain matters. FAAL has a broader mandate in supply chain than just health.
I want to also recognize Empower School of Health who has spearheaded the creation and development of the India country chapter. And in the same way, SAPICS has been working to develop the South Africa country chapter.
We have also called upon individuals on some JSI projects to assist country chapters in Tanzania, Zambia, and most recently in Nigeria. VillageReach has now committed a person in Malawi and one in Mozambique to assist the re-energizing of those country chapters.
Finally, I want to say thanks to our country chapter leaders. As you know these positions are held by volunteers who already have busy work lives. Our chapter leaders come from all kinds of organizations: local government, UN, USAID, international, regional and local NGOs, and the private sector.
All the best,
Walter Proper, IAPHL Executive Director