Historically, many donor-funded supply chains were designed to serve disease-specific programs. Donors had limited incentive to pool funding and share oversight, often resulting in duplicated routes, siloed information systems, and supply chains.
However, in response to major changes in global health funding, executives in supply chain across global health agencies are now jointly highlighting the need for integrated approaches including shared infrastructure, unified data platforms, and longer-term partnerships, arguing that global funding should support “an intentional approach to improving performance outcomes within a particular supply chain segment… applied across health programs, functions, products, and geographies to drive operational efficiency, cost effectiveness, and support a whole-of-market strategy that strengthens health systems.”
They spotlight where integration efforts have demonstrated measurable results. In Tanzania, forecast accuracy improved from 54% to 67% following the introduction of an automated bottom-up quantification tool. In Mozambique, vaccine availability rose from 58% to 96% and delivery lead times fell from 1 month to 1 week in some districts following the rollout of an outsourced last-mile delivery model. In Ghana, stockout rates under third-party logistics delivery were 18%, compared with 48% under the previous regional medical store model.1
For private sector innovators, the shift towards integrated systems may present an opportunity to help countries and global health institutions build the next generation of supply chain systems.
In this vein, the report highlights 6 requests donors and global health organizations are asking for from private sector innovations to enable their contributions which we’ve summarized here:
- Develop a business case. Governments and global health organizations need real unit economics to design contracts that work and sustain private sector participation over time. Innovators are advised to “share cost-to-serve data: unit economics, route costs, and breakeven volumes” to foster the transparency required to make viable, long-term contracts possible.
- Build on open standards. Innovators do not need to build new national systems. Instead, they simply need to build for interoperability with existing ones from inception. The report advises building “on open-source standards and define the pathways and APIs so that data produced flows into the national system from day one.”
- Think long-term. With donors seeking structural partners rather than project-based vendors, innovators need to position themselves to “commit to multi-year structural engagement” to ensure the continuity required to generate evidence and scale working approaches.
- Be accountable with data. Contributing delivery data into national systems is becoming a contractual expectation. With global health institutions advised to adopt performance-based contracts, with measurable service-level agreements and payment linked to compliance, accountability with data sharing provisions will define innovators’ performance.
- Adapt to local realities. Innovators need to design operations and solutions to match local infrastructure realities to improve implementation success. Adapting operating models to subnational regulatory frameworks and logistical realities, rather than “requiring governments to standardize systems or processes to meet platform requirements,” is critical.
- Expect consolidated demand. Global health organizations and governments are being advised to “aggregate demand across funded programs to create viable route volumes and reduce transaction costs.” The report also points to insurance arrangements facilitated by global health organizations as an emerging mechanism to reduce participation risk for smaller operators. Innovators who factor both into how they evaluate and respond to requests for proposals will be better positioned.
The future of health supply networks is being shaped now. Innovators have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to engage and offer solutions to governments, industry, donors and global agencies who are actively looking for new ways to generate impact and lower costs.
Determining how to engage is not easy – thanks to the Supply Chain Funders Forum, hosted by Spark Health Africa, for articulating some guidance. Check out their full report here!
Sources Cited: 1. Supply Chain Funders’ Forum. A Case Study Series: Evidence and Guidance for Advancing Integration across Health Procurement and Supply Chains. Supply Chain Funders’ Forum, May 2026.
