July 11, 2010 | Read Time: 1 minute
Technology has been critical in VillageReach’s work to improve the delivery of medical supplies to isolated, rural clinics in Malawi, Mozambique, and Senegal.
Now the Seattle organization is making the “open-source platform” it used to develop its logistics software available free, in the hopes that other charities and government agencies will be able to use and build upon it to strengthen systems for getting health supplies to remote clinics in developing countries.
Improving distribution networks can go a long way toward encouraging people to make use of the clinics’ services, says John Beale, director of strategic development at VillageReach.
When rural health clinics don’t have the supplies they need, he says, the health workers often have to travel long distances to a central warehouse or district hospital to get what they need, which might mean that the clinic is closed for an entire day.
A mother might have to walk several hours to reach the clinic, carrying her baby, in order to have the child immunized, says Mr. Beale.
“If she walks to that health center, discovers it’s closed, and then has to walk back, there is a huge disincentive for that woman to want to return,” he says.
For more information: Go to http://openlmis.org.
