Logistics' Contributions to Better Health in Developing Countries

Book excerpt: This title was first published in 2003. Logistics are the set of activities that move products through the supply chain to the ultimate customer, these are of vital importance to the success of health programmes in the developing world. This volume comprises the best practices learned and promoted by the Family Planning Logistics Management (FPLM) project, set up in 1986, run by John Snow, Inc., and funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development. The project covered approximately 40 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and collaborated with national family planning and health programmes and non-governmental organizations that were interested in improving their supply chains. Using a range of international case studies, the book highlights the importance of logistics and transportation in health and family planning programmes, and focuses on the approaches and tools that are most effective for their settings.