Measuring the performance of family planning supply chains in developing countries

Availability of commodities at service delivery points (SDPs) is essential for successful public health programs. Making high-quality, affordable contraceptives available at SDP is the purpose of logistics systems—which are used to facilitate product selection, forecasting, financing, procurement of commodities in a timely manner, and delivery of products to clients on a reliable basis. Contraceptive logistics management in many developing countries require external assistance to facilitate the different functions that are carried out by different agencies including Ministries, donors, international financing institutions, international manufacturers, and private and public sector procuring agents. DELIVER, a worldwide public health supply chain improvement initiative, uses the logistics system assessment tool (LSAT) to measure and monitor the performance of contraceptive supply chains in developing countries. This study describes the LSAT and assesses its validity and reliability.

The LSAT uses 172 items to gather data on eleven aspects of logistics systems through in-depth interviews with policy makers. The weighted sum of the items is used to construct performance indices for each of the eleven aspects of the supply chain. Factor analysis of LSAT data from eleven countries indicates that eight of the eleven aspects of the logistics systems are efficiently measuring the supply chain performance. Accordingly, the scores of the eight aspects of the logistics system are used to construct a single index measuring the overall performance of a supply chain. The supply chain performance index was also highly correlation with contraceptive availability indicators which were obtained from facility surveys—indicating LSAT as a valid tool.