Tuberculosis

Strengthening TB programs through sustainable and effective supply chain solutions

Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of the leading causes of preventable morbidity and mortality worldwide, with approximately 10 million new cases and 1.3 million deaths in 2022 alone. TB is an infectious disease that most often affects the lungs and is caused by bacteria that spread through the air.

Tuberculosis is preventable and curable.

Role of supply chain management in the fight against TB

Most TB deaths occur in low low-and-middle countries, which generally also face challenges with fragile health supply chains, fragmented health systems, climate change, and more. The COVID-19 pandemic has also disrupted supply chains and negatively impacted essential TB care and services, underscoring the need for reliable and effective supply chain services. As the global fight against TB continues, it is essential to have resilient supply chain services to ensure the availability of quality and affordable health products for surveillance, screening, and treatment. Health supply chains play an essential role in alleviating the burden of TB in LMICs by ensuring the efficient and effective distribution of TB products and diagnostics to areas in need. Strong supply chains significantly contribute to reducing the impact of TB in regions by mitigating the risks of stockouts, understanding the market and adapting to clients’ needs, reducing waste, and ensuring that quality health products reach patients. PFSCM has been playing a crucial role in this effort by providing procurement, supply chain, and health logistics services to reduce the burden of TB and other epidemics in LMICs since 2009.

Total value procured since 2020

Total Units Delivered since 2020

Total number of suppliers since 2020

Total countries delivered to since 2020

Supporting the global health community

Lung x-rays In the past few years, PFSCM has played a significant role in supporting countries in strengthening their TB-related diagnostic services.
PFSCM is committed to ensuring that quality-assured TB products and diagnostic services reach those in need. Our extensive international and regional supplier base and network of specialized 3PL partners enable us to procure and deliver several TB-related diagnostics, including near-patient multi-diagnostic molecular equipment that simultaneously detects both TB and rifampicin-resistance TB in less than two hours, allowing for same-day testing and results delivery.

Expanding laboratory testing and surveillance capabilities is crucial in the fight against TB and AMR. Accurate and rapid diagnosis is key to quickly finding people with TB and putting them on the right treatment path. Using the correct treatment prevents resistance from developing and amplifying and stops further transmission of the infection in society. Implementing suitable equipment and restocking the consumables and reagents used in the lab is essential for strengthening lab capacity. By establishing an efficient procurement and delivery mechanism for these resources, we can ensure that countries have the necessary tools to diagnose, treat, and control TB and address the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance.

Category management approach

We develop portfolio or product strategies, create sourcing strategies, and manage supplier relationships.

Market intelligence

We analyze the market dynamics that affect the behavior and performance of various product categories. We continuously assess the fast-evolving global health market and use data to help our clients better understand the industry, identify opportunities, mitigate risks, and make more informed programmatic and investment decisions.

Understanding clients’ needs

We collaborate closely with our clients to synchronize business strategies with sourcing initiatives. Our role involves translating business strategies into clear category targets and deliverables. By assisting clients in grouping products and services based on similar characteristics like supply and demand drivers, we empower them to pinpoint consolidation opportunities and generate additional business value.

Risk mitigation

We help clients understand the characteristics of different product categories and the external factors that may impact them. By addressing category-specific issues such as product regulatory compliance, registration, importation, and transport handling requirements, we help reduce and manage supply chain risks, ensuring supply meets demand and products are delivered without delays.

Our services that help TB programs

PFSCM’s supply chain expertise ensures the availability, affordability, and quality of TB products, addressing accessibility challenges in LMICs.

PFSCM upholds the highest standards of quality assurance to ensure that the TB products delivered meet stringent international quality requirements, providing confidence to our clients and end-users. PFSCM only procures products that comply with defined quality requirements as prescribed in applicable QA policies, such as those prequalified by the World Health Organization, approved by stringent regulatory authorities (SRAs), and meet national regulatory requirements.

PFSCM has access to a large and diverse regional and international prequalified supplier base that reduces the risk of supply chain disruptions. We maintain strong supplier relationships to ensure the availability and affordability of essential TB products, and we help our clients gain fast, sustained access to new technology and products at affordable prices (market access).

PFSCM’s comprehensive procurement services streamline the process of acquiring TB products, enabling our clients to access a wide range of essential items efficiently. We help our clients to develop product catalogs to channel demand to standardized products to reduce costs and maverick spending and drive overall production and supply chain efficiencies.

PFSCM’s logistics services ensure the timely and efficient delivery of TB products to our clients globally, addressing the challenges posed by fragmented wholesaler and distributor networks and limited accessibility. We help our clients ensure the timely restock of consumables, including time and temperature-sensitive (cold chain) products like reagents, and we oversee that the importation documentation like product registration and tax waivers are processed duly.

Strengthening TB-related diagnostic services

PFSCM is also increasing access to diagnostic imaging services by procuring, delivering and installing portable, mobile, fixed X-rays and CT scanners for several countries like Mozambique, Tanzania, and Pakistan. For large equipment orders, PFSCM takes a project-management approach to support clients with maintenance agreements, warranty extensions, site preparation, installation, after-sales service, and training. In addition, PFSCM has developed a portfolio of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) products to improve national, regional, and global surveillance capacity for TB and other infectious diseases. Learn more about our genomic surveillance offering here.

Importance of investing in TB screening and preventive treatment

Even though TB is a curable disease, it still causes 1.3 million deaths each year and affects millions more, with enormous impacts on families and communities. While global efforts to combat TB have saved an estimated 75 million lives since the year 2000, it is essential to make crucial public health investments to address the needs of vulnerable populations and achieve the End TB targets.

According to the WHO investment report, implementing TB screening plus preventive treatment can substantially reduce TB incidence and mortality. WHO urges investments for the scale-up of tuberculosis screening and preventive treatment. As a procurement services agent and 4PL services provider, PFSCM is committed to playing its part in ensuring that quality-assured TB products and diagnostic services reach those in need.

[1] World Health Organization. (2017). Laboratory diagnosis of tuberculosis by sputum microscopy: the handbook. Geneva: World Health Organization.

*The impact figures represented on this page represent TB products as well as cross-cutting TB products used for other health areas.

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