Supply Chain Management Project for National AIDS Control Program Brief Summary:

The NACO SCM project aims to strengthen the technical capacity of the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) and State AIDS Control Societies (SACS) to design, manage and monitor supply chain for increased access of high-quality ARVs, testing kits across India. Plan International (India) is the Principle Recipient (PR) for the HIV grant under the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) for India to support NACO’s response to AIDS Epidemic, while JSI R&T India Foundation is the Sub Recipient (SR) has been mandated to provide technical assistance for improvement of the supply chain of ARV drugs, testing kits and other commodities under NACP. The technical team deployed under this project provides technical support and expertise to NACO Procurement and Supply Management (PSM) teams in various areas of supply chain management such as planning, quantification, inventory management, distribution and data reporting. SCM Project Vision and Objective: 1. A step to organize and integrate the National, State and facilities for HIV AIDS commodities and Test Kits across the country 2. Effective and efficient transformation and coordination of NACO/SACS commodity supply chain, with good data/information visibility, in order to achieve consistent supply and continuous availability of quality ARV (Antiretroviral) drugs and Test Kits at ARTC (Anti-Retroviral Treatment Centre) and Integrated Counselling and Testing Centres (ICTC). 3. A streamlined, cost effective and ultimately more sustainable NACO/SACS products Supply Chain Management The key objective of the project is to ‘To improve efficiency, quality and sustainable supply chain management for HIV/AIDS’ by:  Mitigating the threats of stock outs and increasing the procurement and supply chain performance through improved processes and performance  Fine tuning and improving the quantification and forecasting for supply planning  Handholding and providing technical support to NACO, SACS and facilities  Establishing NPMT for better coordination between NACO, SACS and other key stakeholders.

Activities and Expected Success Factors

Strong NPMT (National Project Management Team) at National level o 3PL service provider and its management for distribution of ARV drugs and test kits o Support on quantification and procurement planning with focus on decreasing the lead time o Review and re-designing of SOP considering the new steps o Capacity Building/ToT support to all States to build capacity of pharmacists o Effective monitoring and evaluation mechanism o Handholding support to NACO and SACS staff o Technology support on deployment of IMS application in ICTC/ART centres and SCM reporting o Develop a sustainable and transferrable system for transition to government