Digitalization of the Last Mile of a Humanitarian Supply Chain

Abstract

The digitalization of humanitarian supply chains allows overcoming one of the greatest difficulties faced by NGOs and governments in managing health equipment in crisis situations: the visibility of stocks and consumption at the end of the chain. This paper presents the design process of the health equipment inventory management system developed to support the humanitarian crisis related to the Syrian refugees in Lebanon. The prototype was tested at the pharmacy of the ICRC Weapon-wounded Trauma and Training Centre in Tripoli, Lebanon, where it was demonstrated to be easy to use and able to facilitate the work related to the management of medicament stocks and orders.