One Network and S4D Consulting worked together to ensure Ghana Public Health Sector supply chain capability outputs with COVID-19 supply chain needs.

One Network Enterprises [1] (ONE), the leading global provider of supply chain control towers and the Digital Supply Chain Network™, is pleased to announce that the Ghana Ministry of Health [2] has utilized the Ghana Integrated Logistics Management Information System, known as GhiLMIS, to help successfully meet and address COVID-19 supply chain needs. The comprehensive implementation process of GhiLMIS shifted the focus from
manual reporting systems to the usage of data delivered from the network, to make more informed decisions. This has had significant positive impacts on operations in the shortest period of time which enabled, and continues to enable, COVID-19 response readiness.

With the Government of Ghana's high commitment to the COVID-19 pandemic response, their plan was to procure and distribute the appropriate medicines and supplies for the early treatment of cases that would reduce morbidity and mortality. Key to achieving this was GhiLMIS. The system has been able to capture and process COVID-19 related transactions through the entire value chain while tracking and tracing COVID-19 items throughout the supply chain. Data derived from the system has been leveraged to enable informed decisions for demand and supply planning and scenario modeling, distribution segmentation and demand prioritization.

GhiLMIS, built on the One Network NEO platform, provides an electronic logistics management information system that connects more than 1500 medical facilities across the country on the One Network Digital Supply Chain Networktm. The project was funded by the Global Fund and its successful implementation, managed by S4D Consulting [3], was based on a patient centric approach that ensured data quality while improving and optimizing operational performance and reducing supply chain costs.

The system has been instrumental in producing:

* Improved planning and decision making to address the country's COVID-19 needs and address pandemic disruptions to the entire supply chain;
* Better execution of supply and demand planning utilizing intelligent demand and replenishment sensing engines;
* A supply chain that is agile and responsive to all disruptions brought on by COVID-19;
* Multi-tier collaboration to ensure responsiveness to customer needs in real time;
* A business intelligence engine that provides prescriptive and predictive analytics to different scenarios and;
* Establishment of a foundation for future growth.

"When we did our initial systems evaluation, we realized we had over 100 different systems. There was no portability of the data, there was no standardization, there was no visibility which was hampering our efforts," said Samuel Ampomah, Head of IT, Ghana Ministry of Health. "The logistics management information system was designed to help address these challenges. The Ministry of Health now has a clear strategy to move toward data standardization. The GhiLMIS provides the capability of interfacing with every system which enhances data exchange, standardizing the data to enable real time reporting and access to data that enables us to make informed decisions."

"Today real time logistics and transactional data, is generated by the click of the button addressing operational inefficiencies that existed prior to the system implementation," said Bernard Asamany, Deputy Director, Supplies, Stores and Drugs Management Division, Ghana Health Services.

"The Ghana Ministry of Health did a fantastic job getting all their partners and staff up to speed and deployed quickly on GhiLMIS," said said Greg Brady, Founder and Chairman of One Network Enterprises. "As a fully deployed digitized, country wide network, GhiLMIS has enabled the Ghana MoH to react quickly and fully support COVID-19 pandemic response measures. In addition, they are well prepared to take on other relief measures that may come up in the future to best serve their population."

"The interruptions caused by the pandemic created a critical need to ensure that the Ghana's public health supply chain are activated," said Philip Lule, GhilMIS implementation lead and CEO for Systems for Development (S4D). "It emphasized the need to ensure an agile and responsive supply chain management system, that is both effective and efficient in fighting any disruptions future and current. It highlighted how data plays a critical role in addressing supply chain needs, creates agile opportunities and facilitates resilience."

One Network Health Logistics Management Systems and Digital Supply Chain Networktm are contributing to positive results to improve supply chain efficiencies in Rwanda, Ghana, and Nigeria, connecting thousands health care facilities that service the health care needs of more than 250 million people throughout these countries.