The Last Mile Project, Ethiopia
Objectives and background
i+solutions is working together with Cordaid on The Last Mile Project in the Jimma zone in Ethiopia to support the availability of quality medicines in health facilities by introducing Medexis as a stock management software in select health facilities, covering four phases since 2022.
The project focuses on three interconnected outcomes:
1. Simplified digital reporting and ordering of medicines by health centers from the Ethiopian Pharmaceuticals Supply Service (EPSS).
2. Increased efficiency and accuracy of the supply chain through real-time visibility and transparency.
3. Strong pharmaceutical supply chain management systems.
In 2023, Phase 3, focusing on the optimization of Medexis’ functionalities and the expansion to 88 health facilities in the Jimma Zone, was concluded and Phase 4 was launched.
Phase 4 supports the further expansion of Medexis to additional health centers and improved robustness of the eLMIS system in the Jimma Zone. Phase 4 also focuses on increasing the capacity of health workers through a Quality Assurance and Supply Chain course and supports the recognition of the system on a national scale through the national registration process.
These initiatives reinforce the capacities of Medexis and its users to ensure that the system is operating at optimal capacity within Ethiopia, creating evidence to support the eventual expansion into additional regions.
The introduction of Medexis also leads to qualitative improvements, including:
- Health care staff spend less time on managing their medical supply chain. Single data entry results in minimized errors.
- Staff at zonal, district and EPSS levels base their decisions on data and real-time analytics.
- Service delivery to health centers is uninterrupted, even in low-bandwidth settings.
