The effect of IMPACT team approach implementation processes on health supply chain management data use in Singida region: A quantitative study

Abstract

The Government of Tanzania (GoT), in collaboration with development partners, has made significant improvements in the health supply chain since 2013 through developing of an electronic Logistics Management Information System (e-LMIS) and strengthening of the Logistics Management Services (LMS) component. Nevertheless, the use of reported data in the e-LMIS remained very low. In efforts to respond to low data use at all supply chain levels, the GoT introduced the Information Mobilized for Performance Analysis and Continuous Transformation (IMPACT) approach to reinforce data use culture for decision-making to improve the supply chain. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the effect of IMPACT team approach implementation processes on health supply chain data use in Singida region. This was a pre- and post-cross-section study whereby the quantitative data were obtained from e-LMIS stock imbalance reports. This data was processed using Microsoft Excel power query and analysed using Microsoft Excel 2019 pivot tables to get indicator results on availability, not-in-demand and overstocked health commodities. The overall pre (2018) and post (2020) intervention results for both Iramba district council (DC) and Singida municipal council (MC) were 66% and 81% for the availability of essential health commodities, 17.2% and 21% for not-in-demand health commodities and 17% and 20.7% for overstocked health commodities respectively. Iramba DC demonstrated a significant statistical increase in both indicators compared to Singida MC, as the P-value was less than 0.05 at a 95% confidence level (df=35). Conclusively, the IMPACT team approach positively influenced data use and availability of health commodities. However, it was not the case for overstocked and not-in-demand indicator results. Apart from the possible low quality of logistics data, further studies should explore other contributing factors behind the increasing trends of overstocks and not-in-demand health commodities in the region.