Empower has designed, developed, and deployed digital learning platforms and digital content for Governments, Civil Society Organizations, UN agencies, international and local NGOs, and the private sector across countries in Africa and Asia. Empower aims to deliver customized and continuous learning, provide on-the-job technical assistance, ensure consistency and quality of learning and development, and finally, measure the progress of the users. Empower, in collaboration with Logistimo and Gavi, supports Senegal’s Ministry of Health & Social Action to train healthcare staff in hospitals and clinics across the country to adopt an innovative digital service that will help reduce wastage and improve efficiency across the supply chain.

Phase 1 of the Vaccines Supply Chain Management Pilot in Senegal was demonstrably successful, recording over 92% reporting rates in a short span of 6 months. There is currently real-time inventory visibility of the supply chain in the cities of Dakar and Diourbel, which account for 32% of the Senegalese population. The project collates data on consumption and wastage at each health facility and rationally directs stock flows to the point of care, thus reducing the likelihood of stockouts of vital vaccines. The Ministry of Health & Social Action, Senegal has been actively involved in the uptake and scaling of the project by driving efforts on-ground and ensuring regular monitoring.

Currently, Phase 2 has already increased the coverage from 100 to 340 enrolled entities (medical regions, districts, and health facilities). The project has drawn praise from government and partner staff across the health chain, recognizing the positive impact underway for the vaccination program.

The project has helped improve the immunization coverage and vaccine availability through targeted supply chain interventions, ensuring:

The project makes possible deep visibility and reliable availability of vaccines at health centers, no matter how remote, and also affords preemptive alerts and recommendations to prevent wastage.

The digital service enables users across health facilities to control and update their stock levels via simple and intuitive interfaces; many users reported being more comfortable with the application than manual inventory registries that were previously used for tracking and entering stock transactions.

The system also facilitates data collection and monitoring for managers. Via the application, managers can quickly understand the logistics context at health facilities, including crucial information about consumption, stock-outs, and discards of expired or frozen vaccine doses.

The project has been well received by users at the district, field, and ministry levels. Training sessions conducted by Empower have been effective in preparing district and field users, resulting in high adoption rates, strong adherence to standard operating procedures, and better coordination between echelons. Users have also reportedly found the mobile and web applications easy to use. The collaboration has recently also extended to support Covid-19 vaccine distribution.

Empower and Logistimo are committed to continued collaboration and innovation towards health systems strengthening.