Pharmaceutical Procurement In The Emergency Response Of Médicos Del Mundo (mdm) In The Russian-ukrainian War

• By: ERCOLIN, Lucas (Médicos del Mundo, Ukraine)
• Co-author(s): Mr Lucas Ercolin (Médicos del Mundo, Chernivtsi, Ukraine)
  Mr Albert Fresquet (Médicos del Mundo, Madrid, Spain)
  Mr Simon Rasin (Médicos del Mundo, Kyiv, Ukraine)
  Ms Pillar Crespo (Médicos del Mundo, Madrid, Spain)
  Ms Marina Vidal (Médicos del Mundo, Kyiv, Ukraine)
  
• Abstract:

  - Background information: Ukraine has been a central point of conflicts in Europe since 2014. On 24 February 2022, a coordinated attack from Russia officially started the Russian-Ukrainian war, dramatically changing the humanitarian response.
  - Purpose: With the advent of the war, the main modality of pharmaceutical procurement for Médicos del Mundo (MdM) was based on the purchase of World Health Organization (WHO) emergency kits complemented with specific requests from the supported health facilities. However, this strategy presented many drawbacks. This work aims to analyse how MdM adapted this system to respond more efficiently over time.
  - Method: MdM implemented a strategy based on establishing a centralised pharmacy system, defining a standard list of essential health commodities, and shifting from procurements only from international sources to mixed local and international.
  - Results: The changes in the strategy allowed the implementation of a pharmaceutical-grade warehouse, improved procurement efficiency by diversifying sources and reducing the items to be purchased based on the WHO essential medicines list and increased the acceptability of health commodities by healthcare providers and patients using national suppliers.
  - Conclusion: Adapting MdM’s response in the first year of the Russian-Ukrainian war was crucial to ensuring a cost-efficient, sustainable, and therapeutically wise program. Moreover, it was part of a larger approach on the programmatic aspect of the mission, which could ensure an aligned response among other MdM chapters, and enhanced project implementation and reporting. This work contributes to improving the planning and execution of pharmaceutical procurement in future humanitarian emergency interventions.