Title: Digital Innovations and Public Health Supply Chain Solutions
Description: Globalization and technological advancement are redefining every aspect of humanity at a blinding pace. Their combined impact cuts across all industries and areas of practice. Catalyzed by exponential gains in computing power and access over the past several decades, a new generation of horizontally-oriented technological innovations has emerged that bears the potential to transform industry, government and society.
As a result, we are witnessing the beginnings of what experts call the Fourth Industrial Revolution – and with it, a new Digital Economy. The potential impact of new technologies on economic access, resilience, and efficiency is staggering. According to a report by McKinsey, the global integration of one enabling technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI), has an estimated impact worth $1.2T-$2.0T in supply chain management and manufacturing alone and $3.5T – $5.8T across all industries.
To understand these solutions, and how they affect our own lives, it is important to move beyond the buzz. We should consider the different frontiers in digital economy and identify those most relevant in our practice. In the quest towards optimizing digital solutions for the future of public health supply chain, we have distilled four important innovations that are shaping the future of industry and economy. Among other digital solutions, the team is considering, big data analytics, Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Given the strategic role of supply chain in organizational success, we have put the public health supply chain into the context of a broader public health and development industry. Therefore, in the coming weeks, a team of experts will be guiding the association through a series of conversations on the topic: Digital Innovations and Public Health Supply Chain Solutions.
While we have identified four different elements at the forefront of digital innovation, there is no one-size-fits-all solution to the challenges posed in public health logistics. Therefore, we aim to engage our community of supply chain experts in identifying their own unique needs and matching innovations to those needs. We expect a rich and productive engagement from our diverse community of practitioners on the awareness, use cases, experiences and the path ahead with digital solutions in public health supply chain.
We will also explore how digital innovations can foster greater harmony among the stakeholders and processes that exist upstream and downstream of our supply chain network from manufacturing to the last mile. Ultimately, the aim of the moderated discussion is to improve our community’s understanding of how digital innovation can improve access to quality life-saving commodities and help us reach our shared goals of sustainability and universal health coverage.
To advance and enrich this digital public health supply chain initiative, we have pooled a team of experts with varying degrees of expertise across different domains of digital solutions and supply chain operations.
* * *
Discussion Moderators
Chris Wright has over 20 years of experience in international development working with bilateral and multilateral donors, development firms, and NGOs and previously as a creative consultant with a variety of silicon valley-based technology firms and start-up companies. Since 2002, Chris has lived and worked in over 20 countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe and the Middle East on health supply chain systems optimization, health information systems design and deployment, workforce development, and advocacy for best practices in health systems strengthening. He has managed supply chain strengthening projects for John Snow, Inc. in Nigeria and Tanzania, where he oversaw the implementation of a new enterprise resource planning system for public-sector pharmaceutical distributor and in partnership with the Ministry of Health, conceived and led initial development for an innovative electronic Logistics Management Information System (eLMIS). This successful effort led to an expanded scope that applied an enterprise architecture-approach to defining Tanzania’s vision for a comprehensive health information exchange. Chris serves as a technical advisor to the Health Data Collaborative (HDC) and currently works as a consultant with Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, where he has defined normative standards for vaccine supply chain information systems.
Chris takes a holistic, systems-wide approach to his work, seeking a deep understanding of the context and operating environment in a given country, exploring how systems function, how they can be optimized, how human behaviour affects and is affected by these systems, and identifying barriers and misaligned incentives to performance. He understands that with information systems, technology alone is not the answer; governance and policies, people and processes must also be strengthened and aligned to the operational needs of the health system and the information needs of the health workforce and the people they serve. Chris helps stakeholders create a vision that is aspirational and a strategic road-map that is practical and then connects these stakeholders to a global network of the expert people and organizations they will need to achieve their vision.
Scott Dubin has built a career providing critical logistical and operational support to humanitarian and development projects in a host of complex and insecure environments. As Warehousing and Distribution Team Lead with Chemonics International, he supports U.S. Government-funded public health initiatives, ensuring uninterrupted supplies of vital health commodities around the world. Scott is the project lead on a cutting-edge initiative to utilize drone technology for delivering much-needed medicines, lab samples, blood transfusions and vaccines within hard-to-reach regions of the world. He created and manages a global initiative to apply IoT sensors for remote temperature, humidity and location tracking, and analyzing collected data to improve delivery of quality medicines. Scott developed and is currently field testing a transport management system, TransIT, to provide increased visibility and tracking of in-country shipments.
Emmanuelle Assy is a 12-year logistics and supply chain analytics professional with vast expertise in leveraging technologies to designing and implementing effective, replicable and sustainable supply chains solutions across the public and private sectors. Her work in health systems strengthening include supply chain design and computerized supply chain modeling (Benin, Zambia and Mozambique), eLMIS customization and deployment (SIIL in Benin), mhealth solution design and implementation (Cote d’Ivoire). She also has significant knowledge in enterprise-driven development, competency transfer to government, private public partnerships management and program sustainability.
Emmanuelle is currently Co-Founder and Managing Partner at ZimTeLL, a private start-up based in Cote d’Ivoire, which regroups young engineers and data scientists from different countries committed to address the daily challenges of African populations and governments by creating new solutions or reengineering proven existing ones to fit the African context. Her team accompanies public service organizations by providing the right capabilities and processes to fully embrace artificial intelligence and smart technologies to improve their organizational capacity, data processes, management and decision-making skills.
Before joining ZimTell, Emannuelle served as both regional supply chain design technical lead and MVaccin project Manager at VillageReach. MVaccin is a private-public partnership between Orange, the 1ere telecommunication company in Cote d’Ivoire, Gavi and the government of Cote d’Ivoire to develop and deploy a sms-reminder mobile application to increase vaccine demand generation. She had the unique opportunity to gain deep insights in Health Strengthening System (HSS) data from both the supply and demand perspective. She started her career in the private sector by working in companies such as Maersk, Peugeot, and UNOPS.
Emmanuelle holds an MSc. in Logistics and Transportation Engineering from the National Polytechnic Institute from Cote D’Ivoire and a M.A in International Affairs from Ohio University, as well as a graduate certificate in Environmental Sustainability. She is currently pursuing a professional certificate in blockchain technology. In 2018, she was listed as one of the 200 women francophone leaders in Global Health by Women in Global Health (WGH).
Ralph L. Titus Jr. holds a Master of Management in Supply Chain and a Certified Physician Practice Manager (CPPM) certification in Project Management. He is experienced in the strategic development and process improvements of multi-sku automated commercial, humanitarian response, and developmental logistics in North and Latin America, Europe, Asia, the Mid East, and Sub-Sahara Africa.
He is a practitioner of intelligent warehouse design and leveraging the power of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)/Warehouse Management System (WMS) to enhance and reduce order cycle times. Project management of the design, construction, and remodeling of existing distribution centers to leverage full operational capabilities is his forte. Creative solutions for last mile delivery strategies and teaching transportation practitioners on how to maximize the value of their resources is of special interest to him.
At the end of the day, a supply chain does not run on its assets. People and the development of human capital and legacy building are what drives Mr. Titus. He has an established record building, training, and empowering teams across cultures, countries, and languages to achieve and exceed expectations. Mr. Titus excels in teaching local teams how to develop true diagnostic key performance indicators, Activity Based Costing (ABC), 5S implementations, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)/Warehouse Management System (WMS) design, implementation, and operations (a practitioner of intelligent warehouse design, leveraging the power of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)/ Warehouse Management System (WMS) to enhance and reduce order cycle times), all in the interest of empowerment, capacity building, and sustainability. He is knowledgeable in the application of GS1, the SCOR model, Lean, ISO, and demand planning concepts.
In 2011, he was presented with a Congressional Award from US Congressman John Kline (Minnesota 2nd District) as recognition of the humanitarian supply chain deliverables he was able to achieve in the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake.
Ms. Kaitlyn Roche is a Senior Managing Consultant in IBM’s Global Business Services, in U.S. Federal Practice Advanced Analytics service line. Kaitlyn works on the USAID Global Health Supply Chain – Procurement and Supply Management (GHSC-PSM) Project as a Manager for Global Standards and Traceability, responsible for the implementation of GS1 standards across the GHSC-PSM organization. In this role, Kaitlyn is building strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders to drive the use of standards for product identification and labeling and is supporting a number of countries in Africa and Asia in their global standards and pharmaceutical traceability implementations.
Prior to joining IBM, Kaitlyn worked for DelAgua, a social enterprise in Rwanda, to develop a national retail strategy to bring a range of sustainable household cooking and energy solutions to market. Over the past ten years, Kaitlyn has been active in the global health sector, serving a variety of clients such as USAID, PSI, and TechnoServe in several countries, including Myanmar, Pakistan, Ghana, Tanzania, and Mozambique.
She holds a Bachelor’s in International Political Economy and American Studies from Fordham University and a Master’s in International Affairs and Economic and Political Development from Columbia University.
Prof. Joseph Muliaro Wafula is the Chair of the Innovative Open Data and Visualization (iODaV) Subtaskforce of the AFRICA-ai-JAPAN Project. He is a member of the editorial board of the Data Science Journal. Prof Muliaro is also a member of the committee of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on Agriculture and Climate Change Pillars of Kenya. He chairs the National Industrial Training Authority (NITA) – Kenya sector training committee on transport, storage and communication.
He holds a BSc. Science (Hons) (Kenyatta University), MSc. Physics (University of Nairobi), M.Phil. Microelectronic Engineering and Semiconductor Physics (University of Cambridge –UK), Summer Doctoral Program (Berkman Centre for Internet & Society/Oxford Internet Institutes -Harvard University Law School), and PhD Information Technology (JKUAT).
He is a collaborator on Melinda and Gates Foundation award 2017 for developing a blockchain-based vaccines supply chain management application. He is a recipient of two IBM awards namely: the 2016 IBM Shared University Research Award on Open Data Cloud Project for JKUAT for building an open data platform for researchers in Africa, and the 2014 IBM MEA Award, for capacity building in mobile application development. He won the Kenya Open Data Champion Award of 2016. He is a member of the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF)/ Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Strategic Network on Digital Development: Leveraging Data Science and Digital Participatory practice for Development Impact (2017-2018) and a Co-convinor of a network bringing together 29 participants (academics, NGOs and business partners) from 13 countries to develop joint cutting-edge research agendas.
He is a fellow of the Computer Society of Kenya and the Cambridge Commonwealth Society and has published book chapters, a book and research papers in peer reviewed international journals. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computing at JKUAT and the founder Director of the ICT Centre of Excellence and Open Data (iCEOD).
Roice Fulton is an infectious disease epidemiologist and Executive Director of Denominator Group. He holds over a decade of experience in the life science, public health, and education sectors—with past endeavors ranging from data analytics and public-private innovation at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to tech implementation research in HIV contexts in Africa, to the advancement of vaccine demand, higher education, and emergency preparedness initiatives in the US.
At Denominator, Roice steers new tech innovations toward the global health and development community—building the evidence base to support a new partnership-centric framework for data-driven, sustainable development.
Timi Omole is a Pharmacist and a Supply Chain Management System expert. He comes with a passion to use innovations to improve access to quality products and services for people especially in the global south. Timi trained as a pharmacist in the University of Jos, Nigeria (B.Pharm) and Supply Chain expert from the University of Roehampton, UK (MSc Strategic Supply Chain Management). With over 10 years of experience, Timi has developed expertise across both the demand and supply side of health commodity supply chain.
Timi is currently a Senior Technical Officer – Pharmacy and Procurement and Supply Chain Management on the FHI360-Global Fund HIV/TB Impact project in Nigeria. As the Manager – Warehousing/Supply Chain Operation with Axios Foundation, he had the opportunity to lead a high-performing team of supply chain professionals to ensure commodity security across the supply chain network to last mile on different projects including, USAID/SCMS, USAID/GHSC-PSM, The Global Fund and the UNFPA. He also had some private sector experience as a Medical Representative with Janssen Pharmaceutical of J&J and Superintendent Pharmacist with Skylark Pharmacy, Nigeria.
In his quest for excellent access, quality and sustainability, his latest interest is in leading the process of harvesting the benefits of digital and disruptive innovations across the value chain from which he has 5 papers already. Timi is also currently pursuing professional certificate as an Artificial Intelligence Engineer and a Data Scientist.
Timi is an alumnus and member of (HIVE) Global Leaders, USA confronting world’s most challenging needs with innovations. Among several awards, Timi is the prestigious 1st prize award winner of the 2018 IAPHL survey and a Guest Consultant to the association.