This article discusses issues around the management of antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) and prevention of stock-outs in Malawi, a low-income country with a high HIV/AIDS burden, and a weak procurement and supply chain management system. This system for ARVs, paid for by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and bypassing the government Central Medical Stores, is in place, using UNICEF’s procurement services. The system, managed by a handful of people who spend limited time on supply management, is characterized by a centrally coordinated quantification based on verified data from all national ART clinics, parallel procurement through UNICEF, and direct distribution to ART clinics. The process of ordering ARVs, from the time that estimates are made to the arrival of supplies in health facilities, takes approximately one year. Addressing the challenges involved in maintaining ARVs through an efficient procurement and supply chain management system that prevents ARV stock-outs through the establishment of a dedicated procurement team, a central warehouse, and/or national buffer stock is a priority.

Addressing shortages in qualified health care providers by training and accrediting private sector drug dispensers to recognize common conditions and provide quality pharmaceutical products and services is feasible in a developing country, when supported by an appropriate policy and regulatory environment. Scaling up and sustaining the program will be a challenge.

MSH helps the governments of East Africa—Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Southern Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda—strengthen their health systems. Our technical support strengthens health systems in five areas: HIV & AIDS; family planning and reproductive health; maternal, newborn, and child health; tuberculosis; and other communicable diseases.

In recent years, new global initiatives responding to the AIDS crisis have dramatically affected—and often significantly improved—how developing countries procure, distribute, and manage pharmaceuticals. A number of developments related to treatment scale-up, initially focused on AIDS-related products, have created frameworks for widening access to medicines for other diseases that disproportionately impact countries with limited resources and for strengthening health systems overall.