Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare (Apr 2024)
Global Health Commodities Supply Chain in the Era of COVID-19 Pandemic: Challenges, Impacts, and Prospects: A Systematic Review
Abstract
Zelalem Tilahun Mekonen,1 Teferi Gedif Fenta,1 Simon Peter Nadeem,2 Denny J Cho3 1Department of Pharmaceutics and Social Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; 2Center for Supply Chain Improvement, University of Derby, Derby, UK; 3Logistics Department, Kyrgyz State Technical University, Bishkek, KyrgyzstanCorrespondence: Zelalem Tilahun Mekonen, Tel +251923 10 95 39, Email [email protected]; [email protected]: The COVID-19 pandemic led to the most substantial health crisis in the 21st Century. This pandemic interrupted the supply of essential commodities for human beings. Among the essential commodities for human survival, disruption of the supply of essential health commodities has become a global concern.Objective: The study aimed to systematically analyze published articles on the challenges, impacts, and prospects of the global health commodities’ supply chain in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: A standard searching strategy was conducted in seven research databases to retrieve pertinent articles. Finally, 459 articles were retrieved for further screening, and only 13 articles were selected for final synthesis.Results: Almost 38.5% of the studies targeted the supply chain of health commodities used to treat HIV, TB, and malaria. Lockdown policies, travel restrictions, lack of transportation, low manufacturing capacity, and rising costs were the significant challenges indicated for the supply interruption of essential health commodities and COVID-19 vaccines. Findings indicated that the supply interruption of essential health commodities leads to a devastating impact on global health.Conclusion: Global medicine shortages due to the pandemic crisis can have a devastatingly harmful impact on patient outcomes and might result in a devastatingly long-lasting effect on the health of the world community. Supply-related challenges of the COVID-19 vaccine affect countries’ ambitions for achieving herd immunity quickly. Monitoring the pandemic’s effect on the health commodities’ supply system and designing a short-term and long-term resilient health supply chain system that can cope with current and future health catastrophes is pivotal.Keywords: global supply chain, health commodities, health product, pharmaceuticals, challenges, opportunities, prospects, COVID-19, COVID-19 vaccine
