Factors Affecting Availability of Essential Medicines among Community Health Workers in Ethiopia, Malawi, and Rwanda: Solving the Last Mile Puzzle

Authors: Chandani et al.

To understand how supply chain factors affect product availability at the community level, the Improving Supply Chains for Community Case Management of Pneumonia and Other Common Diseases of Childhood Project developed a theory of change (TOC) framework for gathering, organizing, and interpreting evidence about supply constraints to community case management (CCM). Baseline assessments in Ethiopia, Malawi, and Rwanda conducted in 2010 provided information on the strengths and weaknesses of existing CCM supply chains. This report will focus on the findings related to three key preconditions of the TOC such as product availability at CHW resupply points, supply chain knowledge and capacity among CHWs, and availability of appropriate transportation and how these were used to inform the design of the CCM supply chain improvement strategy in each country.