A Cloud-Based Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Network in Rwanda

African Healthcare Network
Case Study: Rwandan Ministry of Health

The Republic of Rwanda’s Ministry of Health (MOH) was searching for a way to better manage the end-to-end fulfillment and delivery of medical supplies throughout the country. They chose One Network and South African-based partner Resolve to deliver a solution that is the first of its kind - a nationwide chain-of-custody pharmaceutical supply service for HIV/AIDS medications and other healthcare products for a country-wide network.

Rwanda’s Healthcare Network

The Challenge
For the MOH, making accurate and timely delivery of critical pharmaceuticals to its people was difficult. The country is highly elevated, its population is predominantly rural, and power and internet outages are frequent. Furthermore the MOH’s fulfillment system was largely paper-based and filled with manual processes. The MOH knew that to overcome these challenges, their new fulfillment system needed to be cloud-based, easy to implement and deploy, and flexible enough to overcome the challenges of operating within a developing country.

The Solution
Together with One Network and Resolve, the MOH has been able to deliver an end-to-end backbone for Antiretroviral HIV/AIDs medications and other healthcare products to its population. The system covers the country’s central warehouses, 30 regional pharmacies and approximately 465 local health clinics and dispensing facilities.

The system enables the MOH to manage and track in real time the custody and distribution of medical supplies as they flow from distribution centers, hospitals, and clinics, all the way to the individual patient.

Benefits of the Healthcare Network
The MOH has gained unprecedented visibility and control across its end-to-end supply chain while reducing total system cost to deploy, maintain, and support. Other benefits include improved in-stocks at district pharmacies and health clinics, reduced waste, and improved patient service levels.

By allowing Rwandan pharmacies and health facilities to avoid stock shortages, One Network’s platform helps ensure that the ongoing needs of patients with chronic conditions are being met.