SIAPS held two consecutive one-week training sessions from May 6 to 18 in Amman, Jordan, to help aid organizations providing disaster relief in Syria, Iraq, Turkey, and Yemen. The trainings aimed to help attendees hone their pharmaceutical supply chain management skills as they assisted internally displaced persons from Syria and Yemen.
Forty-nine participants traveled from seven countries and represented 16 organizations, including WHO, UNICEF, the International Medical Corps, and World Vision International.
The workshops were co-organized by USAID/Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA). They were intended to help build the capacity of health workers involved in selecting, procuring, and managing medical commodities to ensure the availability of safe, quality pharmaceuticals per USAID regulations.
Training sessions covered the basics of supply chain management, including product selection, supply planning, warehousing and distribution, waste disposition and reverse logistics, and rational medicine use. Some sessions focused on handling pharmaceuticals and medical commodities funded by OFDA and following pharmaceutical policies and requirements for these products. Group activities covered quantification, inventory management, and rational medicine use.
