Perceptions Toward the Practice, Performance and Challenges of Humanitarian Logistics Management of Public Health Emergency Pharmaceuticals: The Case of Ethiopian Public Health Emergency Management

Abstract

Abstract Purpose: This study aims to help humanitarian organizations in Ethiopia measure perceptions of practice and performance and identify, visualize, estimate and control challenges that disrupt the practice and performance of humanitarian logistics management and pose a significant threat to access for healthcare services to beneficiaries. The study also provides baseline information for future studies to fill the gap in investigating the practice downstream of the supply chain. Design/methodology/approach– This study was conducted at MOH, EPSS and EPHI head offices from September 10, 2021, to October 9, 2021. An explanatory case study research design was employed for this study to understand the problem more efficiently. Explanatory research design used to study humanitarian logistics management factors affecting performance. A concurrent mixed approach was employed, where the quantitative and qualitative data were collected during the same period. The census method was employed, and a total of 92 professionals in technical and managerial positions working in nine directorates who were directly involved in the core humanitarian logistics management activities were included. Findings– Twenty challenges were identified and categorized into five groups. Among these organizational challenges took the first position, followed by economic challenges. A similar challenge profile was recorded among all challenge categories across organizations. The findings of this study showed that humanitarian logistics management practices at the MOH, EPSS and EPHI are moderate, in which inventory management took the first highly practiced position, followed by distribution management. Conversely, procurement and transportation management practices are poorly practiced. The practice of HLM varies across organizations in which the practice at EPHI is high compared with MOH and EPSS counterparts. Therefore, the aforementioned inefficiencies can block humanitarian operations in part or totally, and pharmaceuticals to beneficiaries (patients) are delayed or reduced, which in turn cause loss of life and suffering and are forced to bear unnecessary costs incurred due to system inefficiency. Research limitations/implications– The working dataset was relatively small. It is also susceptible to respondent bias in which the individuals who participated in the study may not answer the respective questions based on the real practice on ground. Furthermore, all actors were not included, and all attributes were studied at the headquarters level. This can negatively influence the generalizability of results for the entire logistics. The structural dimensions are derived from previous reviews, and the authors tested the framework to increase the validity of the framework. Originality/value– The authors analyse the broadest set of papers, previous literature reviews on humanitarian logistics. A quantitative analysis of the data was conducted to analyse the factors that have rarely been studied in the literature, especially in healthcare settings. This paper is also the first in Ethiopian public health emergency management, which is of particular value to the academic community as well as practitioners.