Despite several advances made in supply chain management for reproductive health commodities in Bangladesh with support from USAID over the past few decades, there are still documented challenges on procurement process management, storage and distribution of health commodities, as well as monitoring consumption which is the primary source of information for forecasting and quantification. Registration of imported health commodities, management of TB commodities and overall quality assurance in the health supply chains have continued to be areas of concern.

The USAID funded Strengthening Pharmaceutical Systems (SPS) Program provided assistance to the Directorate General of Family Planning (DGFP) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) of the Government of Bangladesh to improve procurement management systems for reproductive health commodities, build up existing distribution and Management Information Systems, and increase local capacity to strengthen health systems.

Following the successful work of SPS, Systems for Improved Access to Pharmaceuticals and Services (SIAPS) has extended its support to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), the Directorate General for Drug Administration (DGDA), Central Medical Store Depot (CMSD), and the National TB Program (NTP) of the MOHFW. The goal of the SIAPS program’s expanded support to the MOHFW is  to strengthen the ability of policy makers, health care providers, and institutions to improve commodity management.  SIAPS will focus its efforts on improving governance, procurement, institutional capacity building, and other system strengthening initiatives, to ensure continuous availability of goods required to support health care delivery and the timely availability of reliable data to support evidence-based decision making.

Specific objectives of the program in Bangladesh are to

• strengthen the procurement management systems,
• strengthen warehousing, distribution and logistics management systems,
• strengthen commodity management information systems,
• promote commodity security,
• improve drug registration systems, and
• strengthen pharmaceutical management systems for TB.