Ensuring Uninterrupted Access to Family Planning Supplies in Bangladesh

Before 2011, public health facilities in Bangladesh had sporadic stock-outs of contraceptives due to a lack of accurate and real-time supply logistics data, increasing the risk of unwanted pregnancies and endangering women’s and children’s lives. We helped establish an electronic logistics and information system that collects data on consumption and availability of family planning commodities from the district and sub-district levels. Pharmaceutical managers are now able to respond more efficiently to avoid stock-outs and overstock. At the close of the program in 2018, all 488 sub-district family planning stores reported stock status monthly using the system. The system helped reduce the time needed to procure products by 26 weeks, and the rate of stock-outs for the country’s 29,000 service delivery points was less than 1%.