Dear IAPHL Members,
We continue to move forward with our efforts to determine your capacity building and professional growth needs. We will be awarding the contract to a consulting group this week to spearhead the human centered design efforts in this regard. We expect that they will begin work by mid-March.
In February, we were able to put on a half-hour webinar on Supply Chains for Noncommunicable Diseases with our colleagues at PATH. If you missed it, you can watch the full recording here. A recording is also kept on the IAPHL website. We followed the webinar with a moderated discussion on the topic, which also provided an opportunity to answer all of the attendees’ questions. We had more than 200 people, from 30 countries, register for this webinar opportunity.
I also joined our South Africa chapter, with support from our colleagues at SAPICS, to conduct a webinar on Automating Replenishment Planning of Medicine in the South African Public Health Supply Chain. If you missed this webinar, you can watch the full recording here.
We continue with our monthly virtual meetings with our country chapter leaders. Due to our Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grant, we will be able to award some small grants to our different country chapters. The chapters have begun to send in their proposals. The grants will be to support the local chapter to develop the chapter and grow the membership. Please do join your country chapter; if one does not exist, start one!
As with many of you, I have been attending and participating in virtual workshops, meetings, webinars, and conferences. In February, I had my first opportunity (challenge) to guest teach virtually at George Washington University for the graduate public health program. Normally I conduct a very extensive public health supply chain simulation with the students, which has served as a springboard to understanding key concepts. This year I had to rely on slides and then polling to support the students in their learning. I look forward to a time again when I can safely teach in person and actually see the faces of the students. The one concept that all of the students understood was how important health supply chain currently is to addressing the Covid-19 pandemic. I believe several of the students have now joined IAPHL, and will be looking to see what our worldwide members share about their experiences on the ground; please do share!
So far for this month, we have two webinars planned. Both webinars will be on the Design and Implementation of IMPACT Teams: one will be in French on March 8th (registration) and the other in English on the 11th (registration). What is an impact team? Register to attend and find out! I will be moderating the one in English; and listening to the one in French. Look for more information on how to register to come soon on the listserv and our social media outlets.
Finally, I would like to welcome Joyce Anglade, our newest part time member of the IAPHL secretariat.
As always, stay safe,
Walter