Innovative Supply Chain Information Platform Will Help Prepare For The Next Pandemic

The Global Pandemic Supply Chain Network was formed in response to lessons learned from the 2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak and discussions that followed at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2015, where the need for a collaborative, multi-stakeholder response became clear. The founding members of the Network, representing the public sector, include WFP, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Bank, and representing the private sector, Henry Schein, Inc., Becton, Dickinson & Co., and UPS Foundation.

The challenges faced during the West Africa Ebola outbreak included severe warehousing and distribution capacity constraints, limited visibility of the overall supply and demand of critical items, access constraints caused by border closures, and a lack of public-private sector coordination resulting in duplicate efforts and an inefficient response.

These challenges are being answered by organizations including WFP, WHO, UNICEF, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Bank, World Economic Forum, U.S. Agency for International Development, University of Minnesota, GS1, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in collaboration with private sector companies, including Henry Schein, Inc., Johnson & Johnson, UPS Foundation, Becton, Dickinson & Co., and NEC. They have worked together in an unprecedented fashion to develop a framework for improving pandemic preparedness and response.

Supply chain logistics are fundamental to any emergency intervention. Inadequate preparedness and response capacity leads to critical delays, costs lives and wastes precious resources. By bringing together information on supplies and logistics and enabling analysis of supply chain inefficiencies, the new information platform, which will be part of the Global Pandemic Supply Chain Network, will promote timeliness and cost efficiency as well as aid in continuous improvement.

“In order to achieve any one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, we must all do our part, lending our unique expertise and experiences to innovating solutions to global problems,” said Ertharin Cousin, Executive Director of WFP. “I am proud of the work being done by the PSC Network. The creation of this new platform is a prime example of the amazing endeavours that are possible when the public and private sectors work together.”

NEC was the first Asian company to join the PSC Network and remains the only Information and Communications Technology company in the Network. Together with WFP, known throughout the humanitarian sector for its extensive supply chain network that can reach the world’s most vulnerable people in times of crisis, NEC will focus on designing a logistics visualization system that will enable end-to-end tracking of pandemic response items, such as protective clothing and medical equipment within a country facing an outbreak, helping to ensure quick and appropriate delivery of supplies to people in need. Other key functions of the system include reporting, data integration with existing logistics systems and in-country warehouse management.

“We are honoured to collaborate with WFP and the other members of the PSC Network to strengthen the global supply chain for pandemic preparedness and response in order to more effectively fight the next disease outbreak,” said Dr. Nobuhiro Endo, Chairman of the Board, NEC. “This is a perfect example of our commitment to creating safe, secure, efficient, and equal societies through the provision of innovative information and communications technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, which also contributes to the United Nations’ SDGs.”

As members of the PSC Network jointly advocated the need for more efficient pandemic supply chain, the Japanese government has since committed US$1 million to development of the Network, allowing NEC and WFP to begin work.

“It is widely recognized that the global health architecture could be reinforced with improved supply chain platform to enable better preparation and faster response time for pandemics,” said Mr. Hideaki Chotoku, Director of Humanitarian Assistance and Emergency Relief Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. “The Japanese Government welcomes and is proud to support the PSC Network which also involves Japanese IT technology. We look forward to monitoring its progress in designing this innovative tool.”

 

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About the Global Pandemic Supply Chain Network

The Global Pandemic Supply Chain Network is a public-private initiative that seeks to increase supply chain and logistics capacities and develop an information platform to more equitably match supplies with demand. By focusing on supply chain logistics to support the response to large-scale health emergencies, the partnership complements other efforts that are underway to strengthen national and international systems that prevent and manage future pandemics.

About WFP

WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience. Each year, WFP assists some 80 million people in around 80 countries. Because of its strong capacities in logistics WFP also serves as coordinator of the Humanitarian Logistics Cluster and as manager of the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) and the United Nations Humanitarian Response Depots (UNHRD). Follow us on Twitter @WFP @WFP_Media @WFP_JP

About NEC Corporation

NEC Corporation is a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies that benefit businesses and people around the world. By providing a combination of products and solutions that cross utilize the company’s experience and global resources, NEC’s advanced technologies meet the complex and ever-changing needs of its customers. NEC brings more than 100 years of expertise in technological innovation to empower people, businesses and society.  For more information, visit NEC at http://www.nec.com

 

 

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For more information, please contact:

Yuko Yasuda, WFP/Tokyo, Tel. +81 (0)3 5766 5364, Mob. +81 (0)90 9844 9990

Email: yuko.yasuda@wfp.org

Seiichiro Toda/Shinya Hashizume, NEC Corporate Communications Division