Belau National Hospital (BNH) is the only public hospital in Palau, based in Koror and serving as the referral point for the whole country. Every department and unit in the hospital, from the wards to outpatients, relies on a steady, well-managed supply of medical items to keep running. Getting that ordering process right matters, and until recently, it was still being done on paper.

At the start of 2026, the Medical Supplies team at BNH replaced handwritten order requisition forms with improved, semi-prefilled digital forms, to make ordering medical supplies easier, more consistent and quicker for hospital departments and units.

The old system asked staff to hand write the items they wanted to order and estimate the quantities needed. With more than 450 different items in the catalogue, that process was a recipe for error. Item names were easy to confuse, quantities were often just a guess, and handwriting wasn’t always legible once the form reached the supplies team.

mSupply is used at BNH to enter andfulfil orders and whilst the mSupply suite of products allows hospital wards and departments to be digitised within mSupply with a range of tools, the BNH senior team felt they needed a lower-tech solution. Taking mSupply to the wards can be a complex activity requiring extensive training, hardware and change management. The team also wanted to take a step-wise approach with a lower-tech solution that could allow them later to move towards more modern approaches.

The old paper-based forms being replaced

A form that does the thinking

The new forms pull data straight from mSupply, the electronic Logistics Management Information System the medical supplies team already uses to track stock. Instead of writing out item names from memory, staff now see the items their department has ordered in the past, already listed on the form. The average quantity ordered over a two week period is also pre-filled, giving staff a sensible starting point.

The latest round of improvements, made in June 2026, went a step further. Now staff just enter how much stock they currently have on hand, and the form automatically calculates how much they need to order for the next two weeks. Each department orders enough supplies for a fortnight every week, so there is always a week of buffer stock in reserve. The forms are built in Excel and are emailed weekly to a shared medical supplies address for processing, so no separate system or login is needed to submit an order. From there, they can be easily imported into mSupply by pharmacy staff, eliminating the risk of transcription errors.

What has changed

All wards and units across Belau National Hospital are now using the new forms. The Medical Supplies team is seeing more orders processed in full, and more consistent use of items across departments, a direct result of staff no longer having to guess at names or quantities.

Darnelle Worswick, Hospital Administrator, says the change has been significant, but not without its own learning curve:

“The updated medical supplies order forms have really helped us. We’ve learnt the importance of training the Hospital Departments to use them and also taking on board their feedback to make further improvements. For example, in the latest updates to the forms, we’ve included automatic formulas for calculating order quantities and allowed Hospital Departments to submit the form by email.”

That feedback loop, listening to the departments actually filling out the forms each week, has been central to how the forms have evolved from the first version to the current one.

What BES did

Beyond Essential Systems (BES) Health Supply Chain Project Manager, Catherine Harris, worked with BNH staff to design and update the new medical supplies order forms, and provided training and training materials to help departments make the switch from paper to digital. The approach was discussed with the mSupply Foundation team in NZ and Nepal, who agreed it was an approach that would be easy to implement within mSupply and free to maintain within Palau’s existing support model.

Looking ahead

BES is grateful to the Australian Government for its ongoing support through the Partnerships for a Healthy Region initiative, which allows BES to provide tailored, dedicated support to Belau National Hospital in Palau. A form re-design is a small change on paper, but one that is already making ordering medical supplies faster and more reliable for every department at BNH. More importantly, it’s a demonstration that the best tools are the ones that come from understanding the context, listening to local leadership and making appropriate choices.

The challenge of supplying medicines across 3.5 million square kilometres

Kiribati is one of the most geographically dispersed countries in the world. Its 21 inhabited islands are spread across 3.5 million square kilometres of ocean, making coordinated health service delivery a logistical challenge. For health workers on outer islands like Tamana, getting the medicines and supplies their patients need has long depended on infrequent transport links and limited visibility into what is available, and when it is running low.

The consequences of gaps in supplying medicines are felt across the full range of health conditions. Non-communicable diseases including diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease place a significant and growing burden on the health system. Stock outs of essential medicines for these conditions are not just inconvenient, they directly affect patient outcomes. Reproductive and sexual health supplies have also historically been difficult to maintain on outer islands, despite sustained demand from communities. Without reliable data on what is in stock at the facility level, ordering decisions are made on estimates of supplying medicines, rather than evidence. Resupply can arrive too late, in the wrong quantities, or not at all.

A broader push for digital transformation on Tamana Island

The deployment of Open mSupply sits within a wider effort to bring digital services to Tamana. The Smart Island Project a joint UN programme by the Joint SDG Fund, led by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in partnership with Kiribati’s Ministry of Information, Communication, and Technology; has been working to expand Wi-Fi connectivity, build community digital literacy, and strengthen digital health services on the island, including through a partnership with the Ministry of Health. The project is also designed as a replicable model for other outer islands across Kiribati. This improved connectivity and growing digital capability on Tamana makes this the right moment to introduce digital supply chain management at the medical centre.

What Open mSupply does

Open mSupply is an open-source Logistics Management Information System (LMIS) developed by the mSupply Foundation. It is used in health facilities across the Pacific and beyond to manage supplying medicines and medical supplies, from national warehouses all the way to remote clinics. The system is built to work reliably in low-resource environments with limited or intermittent internet connectivity.

With Open mSupply, health workers can:

• Record stock transactions digitally: goods received, items dispensed, stock takes completed
• Access automatic reorder suggestions based on real consumption data
• Synchronise stock data with the central supply system in Tarawa
• Have actionable data to reduce both stock outs and wasteful over-ordering
• Kiribati Government Pharmacy in Tarawa, the system provides near real-time visibility into what is on the shelf at Tamana’s medical centre so resupply decisions are based on data, not guesswork.

What this means for Tamana Island

For health workers at Tamana’s medical centre, Open mSupply reduces the time spent on manual stock counts and paper-based ordering, freeing up more time for patient care. For the community, it means greater confidence that essential medicines for diabetes, hypertension, maternal health, and reproductive health will be available when needed.

The Tamana deployment is also an important step in demonstrating that digital health supply chain tools can work at the last mile, in the most remote settings, with limited resources, and with real benefit to patients and health workers alike.

Tamanu is a free and open-source Electronic Medical Record, recognised as a global digital good for health. It is supported in Kiribati by the Government of Kiribati, MHMS, and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Global Health Division, through the Partnerships for a Healthy Region (PHR) Initiative.

Featured image caption: Ariel shot of Tamana Island, part of the Gilbert Island group in Kiribati. Supplied by UNDP PO Kiribati.

In early 2024 the Tonga Pharmacy and Medical Facility (TPMF) warehouse opened in Veitongo, Tongatapu. The warehouse has provided much needed additional suitable storage space for drugs and pharmacy items needed by Tonga’s public health service, hospitals and health centers.

Tonga is a Polynesian country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean consisting of approximately 170 islands, of which 36 are inhabited, with a population of around 107,000 people.The country’s health system includes central hospitals, peripheral health centers and community-based services.Key health challenges facing Tonga include rising rates of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease and cancer, while communicable diseases such as tuberculosis, and vaccine-preventable diseases persist.

Prior to the new warehouse opening, all of the national-level medicines and medical supplies were stored in the Central Pharmacy and Medical Supplies (CPMS) unit office in Nuku’alofa which was converted from Tonga’s original old hospital. This old site was overcrowded, difficult to access, and not a fit-for-purpose national storage facility. The new TPMF warehouse has allowed for storage layout improvements, proper stock management processes and a full, accurate stock take to be completed.

With the support of BES, Warehouse Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) were developed and adopted in late 2024 and mSupply has been implemented throughout the warehouse. Now, in late 2025, the dedication and hard work by the CPMS staff is generating significant results.

In 2024 weekly cycle-count spot checks were commenced to routinely audit that the stock on hand quantities in storage matched the records in mSupply, the electronic logistics information management system used by CPMS. In 2024 the accuracy rate of the random spot checks was regularly between 20-60%. By late 2025, after implementing annual and quarterly stock takes, the average accuracy rate of random spot check has reached 90%. With dedicated storages spaces for medicines and medical supplies there is more room for logical storage layout planning and easier maneuverability for staff to pick orders and regularly stock take items.

The facility is also safer, and cleaner with stock now stored on proper steel shelving, improving efficiency as well as staff welfare. The use of forklifts and other warehouse aids reduces the risk of physical injury or accident.

Knowing that the stock on hand data is accurate has been essential for determining how much to order in future. mSupply, the electronic logistics information management system used by CPMS, generates suggested order quantity data that is now more accurate and reliable. The increased trust in the stock management data from mSupply has led to improved ordering of medicines and medical supplies and reduced under and over ordering items, further helping to efficiently manage the storage spaces.

At the same time, medical item availability has consistently been above 90% at the central warehouses and in fact has averaged close to 95% throughout 2025, based on an indicator item list which has been set for measurement.

BES have been supporting Tonga since 2018

Fehi Tu’iha’angana, a Pharmacist at CPMS, says the new warehouse SOPs that detail processes for purchase order management, goods receiving, managing expires, monthly reporting and other processes …“are really useful for having specific written processes to go back to refer to and follow. The flow diagrams are particularly helpful.”

The CPMS Stock Control Coordinator, Sesi Lea’aetoa, acknowledges the new warehouse SOPs have also helped define staff specific duties and roles: “It helps us with teamwork and directs co-workers to have a hand in doing all the work,” she says.

Beyond Essential Systems (BES) and The mSupply Foundation (TMF) under the DTAC initiative supported by the New Zealand Ministry of Health Polynesian Health Corridors program have supported Tonga’s CPMS unit every step of the way to achieve these outcomes. For example, BES have provided training on operationalizing the warehouse SOPs and TMF have helped create tailored data reporting dashboards that allow the easy tracking of key supply chain performance indicators.

BES and TMF are pleased that the New Zealand Ministry of Health Polynesian Health Corridors program has extended funding to continue to provide tailored support to Tonga until June 2027.

The achievements of Tonga’s CPMS unit in warehousing and stock management for drugs and medical supplies illustrate that tailored supply chain support combined with dedicated staff can create tangible differences and significant improvements over time, saving money, improving medicines availability and using data to inform decision making. These differences need multi-facted support however, combining digital tools, physical storage infrastructure, policy & processes, and – most importantly – highly engaged and effective staff. In Tonga, we are lucky to be working now with all four!

In healthcare settings, especially in resource-limited environments, effective supply chain management can mean the difference between life and death. When medicines and essential supplies aren’t available in the right place at the right time, patients suffer. Measuring the performance of individual health facilities from a supply chain perspective has always been difficult however, as managers need to take into account multiple, inter-related metrics.

That’s why BES has partnered with mSupply Foundation to develop an innovative solution: mSupply report cards.

The Challenge of Supply Chain Visibility

For years, health facility managers and donors alike have grappled with a common question: “How well are our supply chains actually performing?” Traditional monitoring approaches often involve time-consuming site visits, unreliable manual reporting, or reactive interventions after problems have already occurred.

Without real-time, objective metrics, health systems struggle to:

• Identify underperforming facilities before stockouts impact patient care
• Allocate support resources efficiently to facilities that need them most
• Demonstrate accountability to donors and stakeholders
• Create a culture of continuous improvement at the facility level

mSupply Report Cards: Data-Driven Performance Measurement

The mSupply report card system represents a breakthrough in supply chain monitoring. By leveraging data already captured in the mSupply software platform, these monthly scorecards provide an automated, objective assessment of each facility’s supply chain performance.

Each facility receives a score out of 10 possible points, calculated from key performance indicators that matter most to patient outcomes and operational efficiency:

• Critical items availability (2 points): The most important metric, showing whether essential medicines and supplies are in stock when needed
• Days since last transaction (2 points): Indicates regular system usage and operational activity
• Days since last stocktake (1 point): Ensures inventory accuracy through regular physical counts
• Pending customer invoices (2 points): Measures whether stock issuance processes are being completed properly
• Outstanding supplier invoices (2 points): Tracks efficient receipt of incoming supplies
• Pending purchase orders/Internal orders (1 point): Monitors procurement and ordering processes

From Data to Action

What makes the report card system truly powerful is how it translates complex supply chain data into actionable insights:

1. Simple traffic light scoring system: Facilities scoring 9-10 points (green) are performing excellently, 5-8 points (orange) need some support, and 0-4 points (red) require urgent intervention. The traffic light scoring system is available in real-time (for facilities using mSupply)
2. Focus on critical item availability: Beyond the overall score, special attention is given to stock availability of essential items. Facilities with less than 80% availability of critical items are flagged for immediate support.
3. Targeted improvement opportunities: The breakdown of performance by specific KPIs allows support teams to precisely identify which aspects of supply chain management need strengthening at each facility.

 The individual facility scores can then be compiled into a national average score, giving a snapshot of national supply chain performance that is of course combined with other metrics, such as procurement data, wastage, and order processing times.

Of course, the report cards don’t do everything – automation of some reporting is fantastic but you still need engaged, qualified supply chain supervisors who can respond to identified issues, you need on-site visits to verify and backup automated tools and you need the resources to be able to action change. But the report cards provide a wonderful first step in allowing managers to allocate all of these finite resources most appropriately.

To date, BES have implemented the report cards across Fiji, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Samoa, Nauru, Palau, Niue, and Cook Islands. They work only in those facilities that use mSupply, so the coverage in each country varies based on mSupply deployments.

Real Impact for Multiple Stakeholders

The mSupply report card system creates value throughout the healthcare ecosystem:

For health facility managers: Clear, regular feedback on performance with specific areas for improvement. The scoring system creates healthy competition and motivation for continuous improvement.

For health system administrators: Real-time visibility into network-wide performance, allowing better allocation of limited supervisory and support resources to the facilities most in need.

For donors and implementing partners: Objective evidence of supply chain performance improvements over time, demonstrating return on investment and identifying where additional resources may be needed.

For patients: Most importantly, the system helps ensure that life-saving medicines and supplies are available when and where they’re needed.

The Path Forward

As health systems across the region face increasing pressure to do more with limited resources, tools like the mSupply report card system represent the future of efficient, data-driven supply chain management. By transforming complex data into simple, actionable metrics, these scorecards enable a proactive approach to supply chain challenges.

Through our partnership with mSupply Foundation, BES is committed to expanding this innovative approach to more health facilities and systems globally. We invite potential donors and users to join us in this effort to strengthen health supply chains and, ultimately, improve healthcare delivery for the communities who need it most.

BES works in partnership with mSupply Foundation to strengthen health systems through innovative digital solutions for supply chain management.

Solomon Islands have reached the halfway point of an ambitious Health Supply Chain reform project that will improve the quality of healthcare and supply of essential medicines for future generations to come. Led by Solomon Islands’ Ministry of Health & Medical Services (MHMS), long-term friends from Australia, BES, were engaged to deliver the reform project funded by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).

NRH Pharmacy staff in Solomon Islands with BES consultant Agusto dos Santos

Solomon Islands is a 3-hour flight northeast of Brisbane. Rich in culture, natural beauty, tropical weather, and some of the best reefs and surf breaks in the world, Solomons has six major islands and more than 900 outer islands and atolls. The population of 720,000 is young, dispersed, and multi-lingual, while the majority live in rural areas and maintain subsistence livelihoods in villages of a few hundred people.

Solomon’s health supply chain was considered strong for many years compared to other low-income, low-resource countries in the Pacific. Since 2018 however, successive shocks to the system saw a regression in performance indicators. The impacts of these were felt in frequent stockouts of essential medicines in large hospitals, warehouses, and primary health clinics.

Enter the national Health Supply Chain reform project in April 2023. The 12-month project kicked off with a review and assessment – 34 senior stakeholder meetings in fact, from Government departments within the Ministry of Health and Medical Services (MHMS), the National Medical Store (NMS), and the National Referral Hospital (NRH). No stone was left unturned! More than 150 rapid interventions and upskilling with MHMS staff was planned to re-establish the once resilient national supply chain.

Hang on, what is a health supply chain?

Health supply chains are the behind-the-scenes activities taking place to stock your pharmacy with medicine and supplies for everyone. A strong supply chain involves:

• Getting the right manufacturers and suppliers through a procurement process
• Monitoring stock levels, usage and reordering to prevent stockouts
• Deliveries; in Solomons all medicine supply is centralised through the National Medical Stores (NMS) warehouse, where it’s managed and distributed nationally:
  • NMS distributes directly to the National Referral Hospital (NRH), clinics in Honiara City Council (HCC), Guadalcanal, Russell Islands, and Malaita Outer Islands, as well as every Second-Level Medical Store (SLMS)
  • Second-Level stores then distribute stock within their catchment which generally cover 10-15 health clinics, most of which are located in remote areas.
• Let’s not forget transportation! Trucks, small aircraft, boats, cars, motorbikes and sometimes even by foot! Medicine and supplies reach extremely remote provinces, and often not without complication.

Marianne Tanavalu, the National Medical Supplies Procurement Manager explains that one of the good things the reform project is doing is improving timeliness and quality control in health supply procurement evaluations.

“We have standardised manufacturer names, we introduced minimum delivery periods for all items and set mandatory expiry information from all bidders to make evaluation clearer. This helps avoid uncertainty when we compare and order medical supplies. And it can reduce waste and avoid stock-outs of medicine,” said Marianne.

Photo: Marianne Tanavalu, National Medical Supplies, Procurement Manager.

Having reached the halfway point of the project, the end of the tunnel is growing brighter. In the last 6-months, health supply chain staff in Solomon Islands have shown their appetite for change and improvement, delivering several big ticket projects already, with the support of a small team of BES project staff.

#1 – Digitising procurement

In September 2023, digital procurement software ‘the Health Supply Hub’ was launched. The Hub improves bidding processes for suppliers, increases transparency and continues to help lower the cost of medicine procurement.

Solomon Islands were the second country in the world to implement the electronic Logistics Management Information System (eLMIS) mSupply, which is now used in more than 35 countries. In 2013, Solomon Islands then became the first country to use Version 1 of mSupply Mobile! So it’s no surprise Solomons continues to be at the cutting edge of supply chain innovation. But a system is only as good as the people who use it, which leads us to the next big reform.

#2 – A plan for people and processes

The Health Supply Hub came out alongside an Annual Procurement Plan focusing on the people side of procurement. The plan coordinates processes delivered by people in multiple workplaces and locations. Through its delivery, the plan has created better clarity of roles and greater collaboration between the Ministry of Health and Medical Services and the National Medical Store teams.

#3 – Upskilling through workshops and training sessions

A priority of the project was to give everyone involved in the health supply chain a chance to upskill and learn more about specialist topics. Dozens of training sessions and workshops have already been held on procurement and health supply chain management, with many more scheduled in Honiara and the provinces. Sharing ideas and experiences between workplaces – such as learning how the digital procurement systems work – have led to requests for broader, country-wide exposure to digital procurement systems that could further improve tender approval times.

Photo: BES consultant Agusto Dos Santos runs mSupply training at the National Referral Hospital in Honiara

Workshops have also provided a space for more collaboration, where priority issues can be addressed in person; such as supporting updates to the essential medicines lists, stock distribution or revising policies and plans.

Chief Pharmacist, Solomon Bosa, thanked BES staff at the end of the National Referral Hospital training session.

“The hospital pharmacists from the Pharmacy Division have not received such comprehensive training on mSupply before. The need for data input to the supply chain systems was also useful to pharmacists working to avoid stock-outs and expiry.” said Solomon.

A long friendship

The Health Supply Chain reform project is backed by a long-held friendship between Solomon Islands and Australia. The company BES, who were engaged by MHMS and DFAT to deliver the reform project, was founded by a group of Australian pharmacists and public health experts who once called Solomon Islands home as volunteers, employees, and technical assistants. Some of the BES delivery team include former Solomons residents:

Director Michael Nunan (formerly the Chief pharmacist with the MHMS Public Pharmacy Services, and the primary healthcare pharmacy support specialist for the MHMS National Pharmacy Services, Honiara), who worked in Solomon Islands for 5 years.
Director Erin Mitchell (National training pharmacist with MHMS, pharmacovigilance pharmacist for the Solomon Islands Malaria program, and health resource officer with WHO, Honiara), who worked in Solomon Islands for 4 years.
Head of Programs Emily Porrello (Rational use of medicines pharmacist, MHMS, Honiara), who worked in Solomon Islands for 1 year.

It’s safe to say all three consider Solomon Islands a home away from home.

“It is such a pleasure to be supporting Solomon Islands again – a large piece of my heart is always there, along with many old friends and we look forward to seeing this project improve healthcare for them and all patients,” said Michael.

With five months of the Health Supply Chain reform project remaining, the foundations for reliable flows of medicines and medical supplies to healthcare facilities are being laid. Our shared aim is to see new knowledge and practices embedded for years to come, and measures such as healthcare accessibility, efficiency, and decreased stock outages increasingly seen as the norm.

Sam Samba, Mathew Miria, and Yu Par Min Lwin achieved the three highest scores out of 500 participants from around the world last year, showing their outstanding dedication to the course and deep engagement with the materials. We spoke to them about the projects they’re involved with and the importance of the course for their work.

Yu Par Min Lwin

Yu Par Min Lwin  is a Senior Logistics Management Information System (LMIS) Officer for the Chemonics International GHSC-PSM Project, providing technical support for mSupply users throughout Myanmar including their National AIDS, TB, and Malaria Programs.

Mathew Miria

Mathew Miria works with World Vision PNG as the Eastern Highlands & New Guinea Islands Regional Coordinator for TB/HIV Supplies.

MSupply is the main system Mathew and his team use to manage shipments of TB/HIV medical commodities. Some of the tasks they perform through mSupply include making stock and inventory adjustments, creating pick-slips, confirming invoices, attending to requisition orders, running stocktakes, and providing reports. It is used on a daily basis.

“The course helped me to understand and appreciate the overall importance of using the system. It captures everything and provides the ‘Information/Reporting’ needed with regards to TB/HIV supplies.”

Sam Samba

Our very top score came from Sam Samba, a Senior Analyst for the Clinton Health Access Initiative. 

Sam has been using mSupply as a LMIS Officer and National Administrator for mSupply in Sierra Leone. He supported implementation of mSupply at their medical warehouses, and is responsible for the creation of accounts, amongst many other tasks.

“The course is extremely impactful, as I have gained more knowledge about mSupply and am hoping to learn more.”

BES supports health supply chains across the Pacific, helping to implement systems to improve access to medicines across all levels of each health system. The champions of those supply chains, though, are our local counterparts who work hard every day in warehouses, trucks, offices, and pharmacies to improve the lives of others. Upskilling and empowering these local counterparts brings context and sustainability that we could never hope to achieve on our own. A new initiative we are supporting are the DTAC Scholarships, awarded to Pacific Islanders based on annual applications by anyone working in a public health supply chain.

Last week we caught up with Bettina Ereinao (Honiara, Solomon Islands), one of the star recipients of the two 2021 DTAC Scholarships. Bettina has gone from strength to strength since joining the Solomon Islands Ministry of Health over 10 years ago, and we’re so proud to share a little about her recent experience.

Firstly, a little background on the project: in 2020, BES partnered with the mSupply Foundation to run the supply chain Data and Technical Assistance Centre (DTAC) across six Pacific Island Countries and Territories, with a goal to improve health outcomes in Polynesia by increasing access to quality essential medicines and strengthening supply chain systems. Funded by New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, DTAC aims to support member countries in setting, meeting and surpassing minimum regional standards in essential medicines access, health supply chains and digital health systems.

Last year, we announced that DTAC would support two emerging professionals in the Pacific region to undertake a health supply chain course provided by the Empower School of Health. The scholarship enabled successful applicants to complete a short course of their choice, with the opportunity to expand their knowledge in topics such as procurement, inventory management, rational use of medicines, and international career development.

After receiving one of the scholarships, Bettina selected the Certificate in PSM (procurement and supply chain management) Support Functions and Systems, which she completed in June this year.

The certificate is self-paced and entirely online, broken down into seven chapters of pre-recorded lectures and a final assessment. Students are introduced to critical functions of procurement and supply chain management, as well as learning practical approaches to pharmaceutical quality assurance, and the financial impact of PSM.

Completing this course is a real testament to Bettina’s self-discipline and drive: many of us know how learning in a virtual classroom is a challenge in itself, but Bettina was also tuning in from a remote location in the midst of a national COVID19 outbreak, and came down with the virus herself during her studies.

Since receiving the certificate, Bettina has already stepped up to a Customer Service Pharmacy Officer position at the National Medical Stores Hospital in Honiara, a vital role in the delivery of medical supplies throughout the country. “The course was timely for me,” Bettina says, “as I’ve gained more knowledge about supply chain and procurement, which will help me a lot in my work. My interest in supply chain management in medical supplies has grown.”

We extend our huge congratulations to Bettina on her amazing achievements this year, and wish her success in her new role at NMS. Watch out for Bettina’s webinar and blog post for DTAC as she shares her knowledge with colleagues across the region.

Fiji Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Services Centre is the centre warehouse in Fiji. FPBS is responsible for managing all of Fiji’s health supplies from medicines to x-rays, and distributes those to more than 220 health facilities across the country.

In this video, Alexandro Naisara from the FPBS Stock Verification & Process Control Unit discusses how mSupply is making inventory management faster and easier than ever.

mSupply is the world’s leading Logistics Management Information System (LMIS) for health supply chains in low-resource settings. Beyond Essential is a close partner with the mSupply Foundation and specialises in the implementation of mSupply, leading its implementation across settings in the Pacific, Asia and Africa.

To learn more, visit our mSupply page here.

This project is proudly supported by the Australian Government.

This is why Beyond Essential Systems, in collaboration with the mSupply Foundation, is very proud to announce that we have partnered with the Government of Samoa to help address health supply chain issues across the country. We will be working to improve access to essential medicines and medical supplies and are particularly enthusiastic about connecting with individuals across Samoan society, from health workers and decision makers to patients and community leaders. In doing so, we look forward to creating real, lasting impact across the entire health sector.

We will approach this project by combining our collaborative, country-focused approach, developed through years of experience in the Pacific, with cutting edge digital tools including mSupply and Tupaia. Our overall goal is to improve the end-to-end supply of medicines by implementing a reliable, efficient Pharmaceutical Logistics Management Information System and providing the necessary support to optimise its use.

By improving supply chain systems, we will support better health outcomes, from tertiary hospitals to smaller health facilities in the community. We will digitise supply chains across every health facility, to help workers improve their purchasing, storage and distribution processes and to streamline dispensing to help ensure patient safety.

At the Ministry of Health level, this will translate to real-time visibility of all commodities in the country, helping drive evidence-based decision making, reducing waste and improving the quality use of medicines.

As a key component in achieving this, we will be using mSupply, the leading medical supply chain management software for low resource settings around the world. Our experienced developers will adapt it to address Samoa’s specific needs, continuously collaborating with locals to ensure it works for them. It will also be integrated with Tupaia, a health data aggregation, analysis and visualisation platform designed specifically for the Pacific that will enable commodity data to be overlaid with information on service availability and readiness, infrastructure, utilisation and capability.

We look forward to being able to use our extensive experience, cutting edge technology, research skills, training tools and – most of all – growing our close relationship with local staff to support the people on the ground and help drive meaningful change.