Implementation timeline:

Key Activities:

• Stakeholder engagement and planning: In February 2017, the Malawi Ministry of Health in collaboration with USAID Global Health Supply Chain Program-Procurement and Supply Management (GHSC-PSM) project  convened an in-country steering committee tasked with establishing a plan to implement OpenLMIS. The committee comprised members of various departments within the Malawi Ministry of Health—including Health Technical Support Services (HTSS), the Central Monitoring and Evaluation Department (CMED), the Central Medical Stores Trust (CMST), and the Electronic Government (E-Government) Department of Malawi.
• Implementation of the new system: Over the course of six months (February – July  2017), the implementation undertook the customization of the new system, as well as migration of 5 years worth of historical old supply chain data into OpenLMIS. Prior to the customization, a series of workshops were conducted to elicit user feedback; following the customization, a comprehensive training workshop was conducted to impart knowledge on how to use the new system for ordering and reporting.
• OpenLMIS Malawi is launched: In August 2017, GHSC-PSM collaborated with Malawi’s Ministry of Health and VillageReach to roll out the first usable version of OpenLMIS countrywide. A total of 38 data entry sites were strategically placed throughout the country to capture data for all of Malawi’s health facilities, replacing SCMgr in collecting health facility data for that reporting period.

Key Results:

• OpenLMIS was deployed in over 650 (95 percent) of Malawi’s health facilities, covering over 300 essential health commodities(source: GHSC-PSM Malawi).
• Average reporting rates have increased overall and remain above 90 percent See image below for illustration of reporting rates:

Data source: GHSC-PSM

• The timely availability of LMIS data continues to translate into improved high-level decision making, particularly to inform the quantification and supply planning processes. It is also useful for monitoring of uptake of new medicines; such as tuberculosis (TB), reproductive health, HIV, and malaria programs.
• User satisfaction is one of the largest successes that this implementation experience has had. The system has been deemed ‘easy to use’ and users have confirmed that it provides them with all the services that they want (OpenLMIS User Satisfaction Survey, 2018)
• Ministry of Health previously used three systems for health logistics systems reporting operations: SCMgr for reporting; Microsoft Excel for data aggregation, analysis, and report generation; and the CMST online tool for ordering commodities. The introduction of OpenLMIS simplified the country’s logistics data management by allowing users to report, place orders, and view LMIS reports in one application.

Data source: GHSC-PSM

Featured resources:

• Title: OpenLMIS Deployment in Malawi Enhances Health Commodity Data Collection  Author: GHSC-PSM

https://www.ghsupplychain.org/openlmis-deployment-malawi-enhances-health-commodity-data-collection

• Blog Post: How to reduce supply chain inefficiencies in an effective way
• YouTube Video: “Achieving Better Data: How an eLMIS is transforming Malawi’s health supply chain”

A pharmacist in Malawi enters data into OpenLMIS. Image credit: GHSC-PSM