Supply Chain in the Developing World

Maeve Magner MBA, CPIM, CPM is Director Global Supply Chain of the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDs Initiative (CHAI) and has worked in Supply Chain for over 20 years initially in the high tech industry where she helped to design and implement supply chain solutions across all areas of the supply chain, working for companies such as Dell and SCI. From there she moved to Melbourne Australia where she joined Capgemini, consulting on Supply Chain projects in Australia, SE Asia, India and the USA.

In Jan 2008, Maeve joined the Clinton Foundation to start up their global Supply Chain Initiative working on strengthening supply chain systems for the National Healthcare systems in developing countries necessary to ensure access to all medical supplies (not just HIV/AIDs) for those in need.

This seminar is about the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative and how it has used supply chain solutions to assist people needing medical treatment in the developing world. Maeve Magner will discuss the challenges facing these regions and how support from the private sector can help to accelerate supply chain evolution.

President Clinton created the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI) in 2002. Over the past six years, CHAI has played a crucial leadership role in the global effort to increase access to essential drugs and diagnostics at affordable prices in resource-limited settings. These efforts, along with many others, have transformed the landscape for patients living with HIV/AIDS. At the end of 2007, just under 3 million patients were accessing treatment in the developing world.

Taking a non-traditional NGO approach, CHAI addressed a very disorganised and inefficient marketplace where demand was limited (due to high prices) and a lack of credible forecasts removing one of the biggest barriers by dramatically lower prices for ARVs and diagnostics. CHAI continues to work with countries to improve forecasting, which provides suppliers with enhanced production planning; aggregate demand volumes across countries, assume a higher rate of scale-up with lower prices and negotiate aggressively with suppliers on the basis of improved volumes to lower their prices. CHAI also works with manufacturers on product development and achieving manufacturing processes efficiencies to continue the downward trend on drug and supply costs.