The Ministry of Health, through its Pharmaceutical Service Unit, has launched a two-day Master Data, Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), and Guideline Validation Workshop, to strengthen Liberia’s health supply chain system. The workshop was being conducted in partnership with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and supported by the Global Fund. The exercise brought together key stakeholders from the Ministry of Health, CRS, the Global Fund, and other partners, and it seeks to review, validate, and standardize health product data and operational guidelines to ensure efficiency, accountability, and consistency in the delivery of health services across Liberia.
Opening the workshop, Dr. Joshua T. Peters, Chief Pharmacist of the Republic of Liberia, underscored the critical role of accurate and reliable data in healthcare delivery. He called on participants to remain engaged throughout the process, noting that “data accuracy, consistency, and integrity are the foundation for a strong health system. This workshop allows us to ensure that Liberia’s health services operate on standardized, trusted, and efficient systems,” Dr. Peters added.
CRS Procurement and Supply Chain Manager, Onesimus M. Davis, described the workshop as a milestone in Liberia’s health sector. He reminded participants of Goal 13 of the country’s Supply Chain Master Plan, which calls for an interoperable system across all platforms. “This day is a very special day as we work toward achieving one of the key milestones of the Ministry of Health, developing a master data list for our supply chain,” Davis said. “Your participation here is not by mistake; it is divine. I hope that we all put our minds to work so that we can come up with something meaningful at the end of the day.”
The central goal of the workshop is to digitize supply chain operations across the country’s 14 county depots and 36 hospitals. This effort will improve inventory management, enhance product visibility, and strengthen accountability in the handling of essential medicines and health commodities.
Key objectives outlined for the initiative include the adoption of a National Product Catalogue (NPC) as the official source of health product information; the establishment of standardized and unique product identifiers using World Health Organization (WHO) classification systems integrated with Liberia-specific codes; and the validation of SOPs to guide the management, maintenance, and updating of the NPC.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ministry of Health, Republic of Liberia.
