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Nigeria Ebonyi MNH Market Description 2023

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Country : Nigeria

Year :

Language : English

Project : FHM Engage

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Nigeria Ebonyi FP Market Description 2023

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Country : Nigeria

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Language : English

Project : FHM Engage

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Nigeria Ebonyi CH Market Description 2023

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Country : Nigeria

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Language : English

Project : FHM Engage

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Pharmacies and Drug Shops - September 27, 2023

The Healthy Markets Community of Practice (HMCoP) is a group dedicated to generating awareness of market development and private sector engagement work happening in different countries and for participants to leave with a greater understanding and appreciation of the country’s health market. The speakers for September represented MOMENTUM, Society for Family Health, SwipeRx, inSupply Health, IQVIA, and Maisha Meds.

The September meeting of the Healthy Markets Community of Practice (HMCoP) focused on pharmacies and drug shops (PDS) and their utilization as platforms for provision of family planning (FP) products and services.  To start the session, co-host USAID Senior Private Sector Advisor Andrea Bare introduced the participants to this month's theme and its importance to the HMCoP. Previous work done by SHOPS Plus showed that in 36 USAID-focus countries, 41 percent of women get their method from pharmacies or drug shops.  In other words, in USAID-focus countries, one in three women get their FP products and services from the private sector. 

The September meeting of the Healthy Markets Community of Practice (HMCoP) focused on pharmacies and drug shops (PDS) and their utilization as platforms for provision of family planning (FP) products and services.  To start the session, co-host USAID Senior Private Sector Advisor Andrea Bare introduced the participants to this month's theme and its importance to the HMCoP. Previous work done by SHOPS Plus showed that in 36 USAID-focus countries, 41 percent of women get their method from pharmacies or drug shops.  In other words, in USAID-focus countries, one in three women get their FP products and services from the private sector. 

Following the comments from Mr. Nasiruzzaman, HMCoP Lead Facilitator and FHM Engage Chief of Party for Tanzania Farhan Yusuf introduced the agenda and the speakers for the first presentation. 

In the next part of the meeting, speakers gave rapid presentations on their work.

Dr. Velonirina Andrianifahanana Program Manager, PSI, presented on MOMENTUM Private Healthcare Delivery (MPHD) which focuses on strengthening child health (CH)/FP quality of care among drug shop providers in Madagascar. In Madagascar, drug shops are the primary source of pharmaceutical products but cannot currently provide CH or FP services and are also sparse in rural and remote areas. To bridge this gap, the project is working with the Ministry of Health to develop an accredited drug shop program (ADDOs) to expand and improve the quality of CH/FP service offerings. To accomplish this, MPHD developed a global curriculum for integrated CH and FP services which includes comprehensive content that encompasses diarrhea, malnutrition, malaria, FP counseling, and referrals. The project also includes training, supervision, and evaluation. MPHD is currently providing training to approximately 60 drug shops in two regions and supervision is or will be occurring monthly or quarterly with supplemental digital coaching. Later, the evaluation will consist of a 12-month study to assess the feasibility and effectiveness of the training and follow-up supervision, monitoring of client satisfaction, and costing of the intervention components. 

Dr. Uchenna Okafor, Project Director, Society for Family Health (SFH), presented his study to identify the major economic, socio-cultural, and behavioral drivers for and barriers against demand for FP products and services using hybrid e-pharmacy channels in Lagos State, Nigeria. The study sought to answer three important questions: 1) Who are the current and potential customers/users of hybrid e-pharmacy platforms? 2) How does the e-pharmacy platform currently inspire and attract FP clients? 3) To what extent are e-pharmacists and telemedicine providers willing and able to provide FP products and services through hybrid e-pharmacy models? To answer these questions SFH interviewed 30 pharmacists and telemedicine providers. Through these interviews, the study found that e-platform users tended to be younger, female, and reside in urban areas while non e-pharmacy users tended to be older (over 45), male, reside in rural/peri-urban areas, and have low levels of education. E-Pharmacists reported that there is a higher demand for condoms and oral contraceptives due to low levels of stigmatization, lack of awareness of alternatives, peer influence, affordability, and convenience. It was found that a lack of uptake of other methods like intrauterine devices (IUDs) and injectables was due to low levels of awareness of other methods, peer influence, fears of insertion/injections on the part of both providers and patients, and anchoring (meaning clients were biased towards a product so e-pharmacists found it hard to promote alternatives). Several operational and logistical barriers exist that inhibit e-pharmacists from engaging with clients including network issues, incorrect client contact information, and low stock levels. This study recommends improving client experiences through AI chatbots or use of video calls as well providing free delivery and tutorial videos to enhance and improve e-pharmacy platforms and FP service delivery. 

Josselyn Neukon, Senior Vice President Public Health, SwipeRx gave an overview of SwipeRx, an all-in-one app for pharmacy professionals. Created in 2017, SwipeRx is the largest digital network of pharmacies in Southeast Asia and connects 260,000 users, of which 78 percent identify as women, from more than 55,000 pharmacies across six countries, where four in ten users work in rural pharmacies. The app allows pharmacy professionals to connect with each other, find accurate drug and health information, access free continuing professional development training, order pharmacy supplies, and access practical tools to improve the efficiency of their operations. Commercial and global health partners work with SwipeRx to access the pharmacy channel with speed and scale that is not feasible using offline methods to increase pharmacy contributions to primary health care, infectious diseases, NCDs, and market development. The impact of SwipeRx can be seen through its effect on both pharmacy capacity and pharmacy supply chain. In terms of pharmacy capacity, in 2022 more than 66,000 users accessed education modules through the app. Also, data collected in 2023 demonstrated that pharmacists educated through the app are more likely to adhere to recommended clinical care, client counseling, and waste management practices. In terms of pharmacy supply chain in Indonesia, SwipeRx is the largest purchasing network and is used by over 8,000 pharmacies across 116 cities and districts, representing 25 percent of all registered pharmacies. In Vietnam and Cambodia, it partners with manufacturers and quality assured health products and connects users and commercial suppliers. By focusing on the pharmacy supply chain, SwipeRx is able to leverage its network to improve availability and affordability of essential medicines and other health products at discounted prices. 

Laura Nabwire, Practice Lead inSupply Health, presented their health market test project that focuses on strengthening pharmacy provision of contraceptives in Kenya. inSupply Health is an East Africa health advisory firm and a subsidiary of JSI Research & Training Institute that focuses on improving health outcomes through strengthening health systems and supply chains. The goal of the market test project is to develop and test the viability and scalability of a pharmacy business model with a focus on contraceptive products, particularly self-injection of subcutaneous depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA-SC). Objectives are to 1) increase the number of women accessing FP products and services at pharmacies, 2) document the value for pharmacies to offer DMPA-SC and other self-care products, and 3) expand the network of pharmacies implementing viable business models that offer quality counseling, training, and FP products. Several barriers exist when it comes to the pharmacy business model including large dependence on the public sector, low demand from customers, and no clear viable path of profitability. Unfavorable government policies need to be addressed, but in the last five years key policy changes have created a more favorable environment for pharmacists to operate.  Currently the project is in its second of three phases, solution testing to bring business models to scale. Some key solutions identified to address current problems in pharmacies include the creation of a client retention program, creating safe (private) spaces, pharmacy mentorship, branding, and continuous product availability.

Rashid Khan, Biostatistician, IQVIA spoke on networking the supply chain to drive access, efficiencies, and product choice. The IQVIA platform connects companies to distributors and distributors to pharmacies and drug shops. The platform has a wide-reaching network and currently has more than 30,000 pharmacies and over 450 distributors. This platform brings all the distributors and all the pharmacies together onto the same platform and then enables them to interact with each other. The platform also processes approximately 17,000 orders a day which translates to $300M annually. IQVIA operates in India, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates with project pipelines in Jordan and Kenya. The manufacturer, distributor, and PDS network is complicated and requires that IQVIA address the challenges that are faced by each of the different stakeholders in the supply chain including overstocking/understocking, leakages, restricted market reach, and limited visibility between orders and delivery. IQVIA also looks to support implementation and functional outcomes for platform users. Functional outcomes include increased geographical reach, access to multiple suppliers, streamlining of pricing, and help to reduce stock outs. In addition, the platform drives adoption by focusing on infrastructure, cost, and interoperable systems. By keeping costs distributed across the supply chain, requiring minimal infrastructure to join, and integrating existing systems, IQVIA is able to increase uptake of the platform. 

Dan Rosen, Director of New Business, Maisha Meds, focused on trends of FP imports in Madagascar. Maisha Meds builds innovative software and data solutions, programs, and capabilities across Sub-Saharan Africa to improve healthcare. Maisha Meds focuses on three types of solutions: 1) a digital point of sale tool which helps pharmacies track sales and manage inventory, 2) loyalty programs that provide discounted testing and medication to patients, and 3) proprietary data that is combined with alternative source of supply chain data to build a picture of consumption across the value chain. Demonstrated key impact metrics include better health outcomes for patients treated via the loyalty programs and approximately $25M raised in grant funding to support growth of its solutions. Facility data allows them to track choice product mix, prices, margins, and subnational variation. Margin analysis allows Maisha Meds to see which part of the supply chain is in need of intervention. The data that Maisha Meds uses in terms of their FP analysis is most useful when it comes to emergency contraceptives (EC), oral contraceptives (OC), injectables, IUDs, and misoprostol/mifepristone, but not for condoms and implants. Benefits include that the data is able to show the price to patients and then the markup at retail facilities and is able to give the sub-national overview of healthcare commodities consumption. Limitations are that the data is not fully representative of the market, is limited to four countries, does not capture 100 percent of the market, and is not easy to use. 

To end, we extend a great thanks to all who participated in this session focusing on pharmacies and drug shops, particularly to those that took the time to speak and prepare slides. We are excited that there was such a positive response to this meeting and are pleased that we are continuing to facilitate connections and shared learning. We hope that participant engagement remains high and that organizations continue to share the progress of their work so that we may continue to facilitate this collective learning. We look forward to continued participation in future sessions. 

Resources

To access additional resources on some of the topics mentioned during this meeting use the links below: 


Future Meetings

The next HMCoP convening will focus on Kenya. The meeting is scheduled for October 31, 2023 and a calendar invite has been sent out.  If you would like to take part in or contribute to this or another HMCoP session, or you would like to make us aware of an organization or project, please email Elizabeth Peña at (epena@fhm-engage.org) or Judy Mboya (jmboya@fhm-engage.org).

Questions?

Please email Judy Mboya (jmboya@fhm-engage.org or Elizabeth Peña (epena@FHM-Engage.org). 

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  • Published on : 16-Oct-23

  • Highlight Type : Event
  • Country : , , , ,
  • Project : FHM Engage
  • Language : English
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Enhancing Locally Led Private Sector Engagement through Strategic Partnerships: An interview with FHM Engage partner Solina Health

Frontier Health Markets (FHM) Engage, USAID's global flagship private sector program, works through regional and local actors to localize health market support. In this way, FHM Engage aims to both properly contextualize market challenges and identify both workable and long-term solutions within the system. In its second year of implementation, FHM Engage has begun to build some solid relationships in its partner countries, including with Solina Group in Nigeria. Senior vice president for Chemonics Global Health Division Julie Becker, on behalf of FHM Engage, sat down with Principal of Solina Health Dr. Uchenna Igbokwe in Abuja to discuss Solina’s partnership with FHM Engage, both in Nigeria and in other countries, to improve private sector engagement and the functioning of health markets.

Tell us about your role in this project and what Solina is doing to support FHM Engage in Nigeria.

Solina is a Nigerian health systems consultancy that works with government, implementing partners, donor support, and very importantly, the private sector to design and implement innovative interventions, including market-based approaches to help to improve health outcomes for the most vulnerable. 

Solina is very excited with our work so far with FHM Engage and has been on as a network implementing partner working mainly in Nigeria all the way from the outset. I think the experience has been good because we've been busy, gratefully so, and in so doing, worked on many different activities with the FHM Engage team. I think, right from the outset, for the work of Nigeria, we’ve engaged on what's called field activities, which means working right here in Nigeria and right from the beginning, supporting the leadership of FHM Engage when they came into Nigeria with stakeholder engagement, trying to understand the lay of the land, speaking with the partners to introduce the project, and we then communicated in the first work plan – the first, even before a team was set up within Nigeria – so that was a great experience just working on that. 

We have also participated very deeply in what we call market descriptions and diagnosis for Nigeria, where they focused on Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Ebonyi. We've worked very closely with FHM Engage to try to understand the health markets for family planning, maternal health, but also child health, and understand who the market was failing, understand how they want to access healthcare, and trying to figure out what roles the private sector can play in trying to fill those gaps.

I think beyond some of that work, which we've done specifically in Nigeria, we also participated in what’s called co-activities, where we even worked with experts that were outside the shores of Nigeria to think through specific issues on FHM Engage as well. And to come to mind, I think, one is the activity where we try to figure out how provider aggregation models work and what role they can play as part of FHM Engage more broadly and that research got across actually 10 countries – we are very excited to participate on that. The other example is the deep dive we’re also doing in Nigeria as a co-activity on supply chain. It is still early going. We’re seeking to understand for family planning specifically, how the supply chain works, what’s broken within that, and the role the private sector can play to help to improve it and improve outcomes in Nigeria as well. So, it's really been exciting. We've been really busy. We're learning a lot and yeah, the partnership has been excellent. 

We really appreciate your partnership. I'm wondering if you could maybe tell us what has been particularly useful or beneficial about FHM Engage in terms of building organizational capacity for Solina.

I think in our work with FHM Engage, one of the first things that comes to mind is the ethos – I think more broadly that Chemonics and the FHM Engage team and our partnership brings – that aligns very well with also the way we like to think about things at Solina. 

I think first and most importantly, given that this is a private sector project, is that belief in healthy markets and belief of the role the private sector can play actually to enhance the market, make it more sustainable and make sure is reaching the most vulnerable. I think that's one important ethos and I think that made the partnership, one of great, mutual interest and one that was beneficial. I think in addition to that, I think there is the bias for impact; not just doing the work for the sake of it. There is a thinking around, you need to engage with local stakeholders to really understand the problem, and not create solutions outside the context. And I think there is also the point where we both agree in the need for using analytics and letting the data actually drive what we do.

So I think, in terms of principles, this made that partnership work excellently, but as we started to work, we've also seen a lot of experience in terms of how, as a partner, we're benefiting, and capacities being built. I think one of those is in the kind of safe space that FHM Engage has created where every voice is heard. Opinions are valid; thinking around frameworks being used is open to contextualization and change. This has really helped the Solina team to be able to not just embed but feel like we could contribute meaningfully to the outputs that we had. 

I think next is FHM Engage and the Chemonics team have actually brought together a group of very knowledgeable global experts that not only understand the subject matter but have a lot of experience working across many different countries. So for the Solina team – and our young consultants who are eager, looking to learn, looking to do a lot of things, but sometimes don't have this experience – there’s a lot of complementarity there, and then being able to build their capacity, expose them, and then be able to not just achieve the short-term outcomes that we want but also in the longer term, I see this as leaving behind significant capacity within Solina – and, frankly, within Nigeria as well – to be able to execute on this type of work and execute on it to the highest degree of quality possible.

Thank you, Uche. You know, I think that one thing we really appreciate about working with Solina is our alignment on the way we think technically the way we approach things technically and having the opportunity to have that full collaboration where were all at the table together is so important. I think we're going to come up with a better product as a result of that kind of true collaboration. So thank you. 

I'm wondering if you could talk a little bit about how you think the roles are changing for international organizations and local partners. 

I think this is an important topic that is also being discussed not just by us, but everybody in this space, you know, thinking around the concept of localization. And this goes beyond USAID projects, but more around the way thinking around how global donors, implementing partners should think about implementing in our context, to be able to not just achieve results, but to achieve them sustainably. So I think with that in mind, there are a few things that also come to mind. I think one is in the past, I think we've come from a place where organizations like Solina – and of course many other local organizations in this space – we're seeing are small recipients of technical assistance (TA) from global partners. But at this point I think can be thought about as very effective, deliverers of  TA, actually, to build up the capacity of even younger, local organizations to come up. So I think the capacity has really been built over the last decade or so in local organizations that can implement to the quality necessary, and even have the systems – administrative systems, finance systems – to be able to account for resources that they are provided with and do that, you know, excellently. 

I think secondly and the next point I wanted to mention was that these types of partnerships, in terms of thinking of localization, also exposes Solina and local organizations to the big donors like USAID, and puts us in a place where the donors can see what we can do, they can appreciate the technical capacity we bring, and feel more comfortable with our ability to manage those resources and deliver with great quality. I think FHM Engage has also done this excellently because in our work in Nigeria, typically when you sit in a room with the donors and stakeholders it is difficult actually to tell who is who. The Solina team participates, they’re engaged, they are able to share and present their work and own their work, which is really a different way of doing business and I think has gone a long way in also strengthening the localization agenda.

You know as somebody who's worked in this field for a long time, it's really heartening to see this evolution that you're talking about and the idea that our roles are changing as international organizations and high-capacity local organizations like Solina are taking on our role, our previous role as technical assistance partners, and we operate now in a different way. So, I love to see that evolution. 

I have one more question for you. What lessons or advice would you share with other partnering organizations as they come on board to work with FHM Engage?

I'll start by saying that I would recommend FHM Engage to our local partners. I think that's for a few reasons and I've touched on them already.

I think one is, that this is a space that is open to learning, to co-designing, and working on things collaboratively.  Which means, as local partner advice, your voice will be heard, come ready to contribute, come willing to bring what you know and understand of the space, and that would definitely be incorporated as the projects are designed and implemented. 

I think the second piece of advice I have as well is that partners should come ready to learn. I think you should come to this partnership thinking also about what you're going to take out of it in terms of capacity for you, for your team, how does this project leave you better, beyond just delivering of the activities after you've done it, as I said before. So I think that's also excellent.

I think in our interactions with FHM Engage, you know there's a lot of banter; it’s a great collaboration and I think I can summarize in the words of one of my teammates. He typically says, FHM Engage is like a box of chocolate, it’s diverse, it’s unexpected, but always a delight. So I think with those parting words, it just shows, our work with FHM Engage has really been great and complimentary, we've learnt a lot and are excited to continue to engage. 

Thank you so much. It's been a delight working with Solina Group. FHM Engage has been a real opportunity for all of us to learn how to do things differently, both technically, and in terms of the way we partner, and we're making great progress.  I think we're all going to be better as a result. Thank you.

Header image caption: Senior vice president of Chemonics’ Global Health Division Julie Becker (right) speaks with Dr. Uchenna (Uche) Igbokwe (left), a principal for Solina Group – one of the key partners implementing activities for FHM Engage in Nigeria – about the project’s partnering approach to improve private sector engagement and the functioning of health markets.

  • Written by : FHM Engage

  • Published on : 11-Aug-23

  • Highlight Type : Blog
  • Country :
  • Project : FHM Engage
  • Language : English
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Snapshot of Accomplishments: Nigeria (Oct 2022 to March 2023)

Resource Type : Brief

Country : Nigeria

Year : 2023-07-25T19:01:10

Language : English

Project : FHM Engage

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FHM Engage Snapshot of Accomplishments in India, Liberia, Madagascar, Nigeria, and Tanzania (Oct 2022 to March 2023)

Halfway through our second year of project implementation, Frontier Health Markets (FHM) Engage teams took a moment to reflect on their progress and plans. From October 2022 to March 2023 – at the start of our second year – we focused on further aligning activities and deepening our understanding of specific product and geographic markets to identify areas where these markets are not meeting the needs of consumers, the root causes of these market constraints, and began to ideate on areas of intervention. For an overview understanding of our overall accomplishments in some of our field support countries, please review our FHM Engage Snapshots of Accomplishments (October 2022 to March 2023) in IndiaLiberiaMadagascarNigeria, and Tanzania.

  • Written by : FHM Engage

  • Published on : 24-Jul-23

  • Highlight Type : News
  • Country : , , , ,
  • Project : FHM Engage
  • Language : English
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Healthy Markets CoP Session - Nigeria - April 26, 2023

The Healthy Markets Community of Practice (HMCoP) is a group dedicated to generating awareness of market development and private sector engagement work happening in different countries and for participants to leave with a greater understanding and appreciation of the country’s health market. The April meeting continued to discuss Nigeria and presenters included FHM Engage, U.S. Pharmacopeia, and SEMA Reproductive Health.

Download Slide Deck

The April meeting marked the fourth convening of the Healthy Markets Community of Practice. To start the session, UNFPA's Senior Policy Advisor Ben Light introduced a new UNFPA policy regarding the sale of reproductive health commodities. Currently, UNFPA mobilizes resources to distribute and donate reproductive health supplies, predominantly contraceptives, to governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and not-for-profit organizations.  The new policy will allow, in certain circumstances, the sale of some of those commodities to implementing partners in government agencies but could apply to the larger NGOs in certain countries. While this policy has not been finalized it is expected to roll out by the end of this year. UNFPA recognizes that there is a need to think more about the health of markets and this policy is an attempt to try and take steps towards more viable commercial markets.  We will keep you posted on any updates!

After remarks from Ben Light, the HMCoP shifted the discussion to Nigeria. After an initial session focusing on Nigeria in January, participants were eager to continue the conversation, expand upon what was previously discussed, and explore new topics. 

FHM Engage Chief of Party in Nigeria Mariya Saleh gave an overview of the market description work currently being conducted on maternal and newborn health (MNH) in Ebonyi. Her presentation provided an opportunity to consider connections between family planning (FP) and MNH challenges and how organizations might enhance efforts in FP to improve MNH results. This is a topic we hope to return to in the future. 

Next, U.S. Pharmacopeia Chief of Party, Mopa Esuga presented work from USAID's, Promoting the Quality of Medicines Program Plus (PQM+). PQM+ aims to sustainably strengthen medical product quality assurance systems in low- and middle-income countries. The program provides technical assistance to build in country capacity of medicines regulatory authorities and quality assurance systems. Moving forward, further discussions are needed to advocate for local manufacturing of FP products in Nigeria as well as other countries in Africa.

The final presenters included SEMA Reproductive Health's Nigeria Country Lead Amina Ja'afar and their Head of Data and Analytics Alexis Heaton. The focus of their presentation was their work on sexual and reproductive markets (SRH) in Nigeria. One of their major findings is the prevalence of gaps in private sector data. Currently, SEMA is looking to understand more about what happens with SRH products through the private sector and are exploring export data and the flow of products from countries of origin to countries like Nigeria. This work in ongoing and they hope to share more concrete data on a future call. 

Overall, these topics prompted a lot of engagement during the session and we were pleased to see multiple connections being made between participants as a result of the meeting. We hope participation with this group continues to remain high and that organizations share the progress of their work.

We are excited that there was such a positive response to this session, and we look forward to continued participation in future sessions from everyone that attended. 

Resources

Please use this link to access the resources shared in the chat during the session. You'll find information on the Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition and information shared by Palladium's Cindi Cisek on how private sector data was integrated into the discussion around commodity sourcing and resource gaps in the Kenya/ESHE project case study. 

Please feel free to share this information with anyone that you think would benefit from our group.

We are interested in hearing from those of you that have been engaged in the HMCoP. Please use this survey as an opportunity to let us know your thoughts and if there are any changes you would like to see. 

Future Meetings

The next HMCoP will take place on May 31, 2023 and will focus on Pakistan. We plan to offer a hybrid format and will soon share details for local Karachi-based participants to join in-person. If you would like to take part in this session, please email Elizabeth Peña at (epena@FHM-Engage.org) or Farhan Yusuf (fyusuf@FHM-Engage.org).

Questions?

Please email Jessica Jones (jjones@chemonics.com) or Elizabeth Peña (epena@FHM-Engage.org). 

  • Written by :

  • Published on : 15-May-23

  • Highlight Type : Event
  • Country :
  • Project : FHM Engage
  • Language : English
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Healthy Markets CoP Session - Nigeria - January 25, 2023

The Healthy Markets Community of Practice presented its new country-focused format during the first meeting of the year. For the January session, the goal was to generate awareness of market development and private sector engagement work happening in Nigeria and for participants to leave with a greater understanding and appreciation of the country's family planning (FP) market. 

Market actors and implementing partners provided brief (2 to 5 minute updated on their work to improve the FP markets in Nigeria. 

Chris Jones, a consultant from Jones Global Insights, began with an overview of the Market Development Approach and how different partners are contributing to FP market development. 

Solina then shared a snapshot of the FP market in Nigeria and set the stage for our presenters who came from DKT Nigeria, Health Systems Consult Limited, IHP (USAID Integrated Health Program), Nivi, Marie Stopes Nigeria, Nivi, Palladium, PharmAccess Foundation, Salient Advisory, Society for Family Health Nigeria, and Solina.  

Topics covered digital approaches to contraceptive care, strategic purchasing for family planning, DKT's Telynet software, and private sector landscape assessments, just to name a few.  
 
Overall, we were delighted to see such a positive response to the new format. Over 90 participants joined and thoughtfully engaged with the material. We look forward to continued participation in future sessions.

Please link here to the full recording and/or our slide deck.  

Other Updates

The TMA TWG is moving forward as the Healthy Markets Community of Practice (CoP). This move has led to several changes to the group, one of which is a new format for future meetings. The Healthy Markets CoP is evolving its approach and will now use a country-focused format. The group will retain its focus on markets that were at the heart of the Total Market Approach. The group will also retain a focus on family planning and reproductive health. To see more details, you can access the most recent concept note here.

Future Meetings

The next Healthy Markets CoP meeting will take place February 22, from 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m./ EST. This session will focus on Tanzania and we encourage you to let us know if you would like to present a topic.  
 
Please feel free to share these updates with anyone that you think would benefit from our group. 

Questions?

Please email FHM Engage Project Director Cynthia Eldridge (celdridge@FHM-Engage.org) or Elizabeth Peña (epena@FHM-Engage.org) 

  • Written by :

  • Published on : 15-Feb-23

  • Highlight Type : Event
  • Country :
  • Project : FHM Engage
  • Language : English
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Leveraging Chatbots to Understand the Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Family Planning Demand: Insights from Users in Four Countries

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted both the supply of and demand for family planning commodities. Several analyses examined the effect of COVID-19 across the supply chain and potential impacts on use, as global actors work to avoid supply chain disruptions. These analyses have all drawn on supply-side data to inform their models, with limited insight into demand-side data. The reliance on supply-side data in many of the assessments of COVID-19’s impact can hide immediate changes in demand due to long procurement lead times, the availability of buffer stock at different points in the supply chain, and lags in sales data reported back up to manufacturers and distributors. Developing more rapid and low-cost approaches to monitoring changes in demand at the country and local levels can help governments and their private sector partners better anticipate shifts in the family planning market and prepare to address potential shocks. This study partnered with askNivi, an innovative AI-enabled chatbot, to deploy a rapid survey of women in 4 countries (India, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa) on their family planning use before and during the pandemic. This effort informed a rapid pulse check of the challenges that certain demographics of women faced accessing contraceptives during COVID-19 and the adaptations they made to continue accessing their chosen method. This information can help stakeholders across the supply value chain to better prepare for changes in demand within the dynamic context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Resource Type :

Country : India

Year : 2022-03-30T17:00:00

Language : English

Project :

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