The SIAPS Program wrapped up its years of work in Namibia with an event in Windhoek on March 14. The program has worked in the country since 2011 to strengthen pharmaceutical management, helping to improve access to quality-assured medicines and related skilled services. SIAPS’ activities focused on enhancing pharmaceutical service delivery, health workforce availability, information … Read more
By Francis Aboagye-Nyame, SIAPS program director Greatjoy Mazibuko was a pharmacist at the Oshakati Intermediate Hospital in Namibia working with ART patients. Every day, he rose at dawn, not knowing how many patients he would have that day. He often worked for 12 hours or more; patients were kept waiting for hours, perhaps having traveled … Read more
By Francis Aboagye-Nyame, SIAPS Project Director Over its six years working in dozens of countries, SIAPS has carried out a vision for health system strengthening that USAID developed and has supported for more than two decades. In partnership with countries and organizations, the agency has led pharmaceutical systems strengthening interventions that have helped countries … Read more
By Juanita Folmsbee, Ukraine Country Project Director, SIAPS and SAFEMed To be fully effective, health system strengthening projects should have sustainable impact and lay the groundwork for future progress. Here’s how SIAPS’ work supported health system reform in Ukraine. SIAPS worked in Ukraine for four years, from 2013 through 2017. Ukraine has the most severe … Read more
By David Mabirizi, SIAPS Deputy Director, Country Programs Q. What does managing pharmaceutical services have in common with flying planes or performing open-heart surgery? A. All of these are complex operations that need accurate, timely information to make effective, life-saving decisions. Here’s why: Sound data helps pharmaceutical managers ensure an uninterrupted supply of medicines; quantify … Read more
SIAPS held an event on December 13, 2017, at the Ministry of Health and Sanitation in Freetown, Sierra Leone, to mark the closing of its project in the country. Leaders from the Directorate of Drugs and Medical Supplies (DDMS), the Pharmacy Board of Sierra Leone, the National Malaria Program, and the College of Medicines and … Read more
By Helena Walkowiak and Maura Soucy Brown In SIAPS’ upcoming webinar on defining and measuring pharmaceutical systems strengthening (PSS), we’ll talk briefly about the development of a new tool that SIAPS and its partners are piloting. It’s intended to help the field measure the impact of PSS efforts. Some background on this activity: SIAPS has … Read more
As part of World Antibiotic Awareness Week 2017, we present a Q&A with Mohan P. Joshi, MBBS, MSc, MD, SIAPS principal technical advisor. Dr. Joshi is responsible for providing technical guidance and support in the planning and implementation of rational medicine use and antimicrobial resistance (AMR)-related activities. Are there new AMR threats that are particularly worrying? … Read more
By Francis (Kofi) Aboagye-Nyame, SIAPS Director You can’t put a price tag on health, but we do have budgets that determine what we can spend to help countries improve theirs. At SIAPS, that means we need to look closely at the impact each dollar we spend has on achieving our goal: strengthening the management of … Read more
An interview with Andwele Mwansasu, MD, SIAPS Senior Technical Advisor What innovations in fighting malaria over the past five years have particular promise? Has there been a watershed moment? With decreasing malaria burden all over the world, a lot has been happening in the malaria world to sustain these gains. Countries are able to detect … Read more
