• Thursday, March 28, 2024
businessday logo

BusinessDay

ISCEA, ARC collaborate to drive Nigeria’s public health supply chain

Nigeria’s public health

International Supply Chain Education Alliance (ISCEA) has partnered with the Africa Resource Centre (ARC) to drive public health supply chain (SC) systems through a talent pool.

The partnership will amongst other things, strengthen existing programs within the ARC and provide certification programme opportunities for supply chain experts within the public, and private sector as well as academia.

It is also aimed at sustainably increasing the number of adequately trained professionals with practical skills in the public health and private sector supply chain systems in Nigeria.

Lalith DeSilva, president and CEO of ISCEA said that the organisation will award 100 scholarships to future leaders of Nigeria to obtain its certification such as CSCA (Certified Supply Chain Analyst) and CHSCA (Certified HealthCare Supply Chain Analyst) yearly within the next five years.

“The total value awarded is US$550,000. We are delighted to make these scholarships available to the future leaders of Nigeria,” DeSilva said.

“This program is ideal for those planning to enter the field of supply chain management whether they are directly or indirectly involved with customers, suppliers, flow of materials, flow of information, or part of improvement initiatives such as creating a lean supply chain. We are thankful to have the support of ARC Academy to manage the program for us,” she added.

The ISCEA certification serves as supply chain professional development initiative for participants in the ARC academy especially public workers, equipping them with hands-on skills to conduct supply chain transformation initiatives at the respective health facilities and enabling them to undertake supply chain management processes within the health facility according to international best practices.

Azuka Okeke, regional director, ARC stated that ARC through its academy the partnership is fostering a supply chain revolution in Nigeria by providing foundational skills for management and logistics to participants.

Related News

Also, gaining certifications in supply chain management programmes and undertaking capstone projects that address real-life challenges within Nigeria’s healthcare space including vaccine management, inventory and forecasting.

The relevance of ISCEA certification to Nigeria’s public health space is that it would help establish a pool of supply chain experts within the public health sector with increased skill availability for effective supply chain governance and leadership, potentially lead to a reduction in morbidity and mortality due to increased product availability and increase commodity security and patient satisfaction at health facility, he added.

ISCEA is a global institution that promotes Supply Chain knowledge worldwide for manufacturing, service, and heath industry professionals. ISCEA is the developer of the internationally recognized programs of Certified Supply Chain Manager (CSCM), Certified Supply Chain Analyst (CSCA), Certified HealthCare Supply Chain Analyst (CHSCA), Certified Lean Master (CLM), Certified BlockChain Supply Chain Professional (CBSCP), Certified Supply Chain Technology Professional (CSCTP), Certified Demand Driven Planner (CDDP) and others.

ISCEA is the governing body for the Ptak Prize. ISCEA members hold mid to upper supply chain management positions in Global 2000 companies. ISCEA was the first organization certifying supply chain professionals around the globe, and it remains the worldwide authoritative resource for supply chain career development with thousands of certificate holders commanding top-tier salaries.

ARC is an independent advisor that supports Ministries of Health to enable them to build resilient supply chains that can assist to get medicines and health products to their point of need. Through connecting, complementing and collaborating with private sector, academia, donor organisations, and implementing partners, ARC assists governments to meet their public health goals through meaningful partnerships.

 

ANTHONIA OBOKOH