ABSTRACT
Global trends in the health sector are affecting family planning and health service customers, and the practice of contraceptive and drug supply management. Contraceptive supply chain managers shifting into integrated systems will find pharmaceutical logistics more complex than contraceptive logistics, because: many more products must be managed and there is a wider range of products and storage requirements. Most public sector supply chain managers spend their careers in government, and, consequently, need to increase their understanding of how to conduct business with the private sector. Decentralization, which pushes responsibility for health services management down to intermediate and lower levels, is a key strategy of the current health reform movement. The expanding role of local nongovernmental organizations in reproductive health care will probably require major modifications in the organization and management of public sector contraceptive supply chains. Senior managers need to understand thoroughly cost-effectiveness methodology, its terminology and, especially, how to make sound decisions about the supply chain, based on cost-study findings.
