Study Report DSO Strategy Reproductive Health Commodities

The main challenge in supply chain management for reproductive health commodities (RHCs) is related to last mile distribution. There is also consensus that domestic resource mobilisation is an emerging topic in the RHC space and that the private sector will have to be involved more often in order to meet the growing demand for RHCs.

Other findings include: - The Netherlands’ focus on West Africa is considered relevant (scores on SRHR indicators lowest in the world); due to local presence of thematic experts and a proven flexible approach, the Netherlands is well placed to play an important (coordinating) role. - Social marketing organisations are slowly but successfully shifting their set up from charity towards social enterprises. - Overall donor funding is decreasing, which increases the responsibility of receiving countries to allocate domestic funding for procurement and in country handling of RHCs. - Last mile challenges are in some countries partly caused by the fact that these commodities are dispensed for free in the public sector.