Improving the Accessibility and Efficiency of Point-of-Care Diagnostics Services in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Lean and Agile Supply Chain Management
Access to point-of-care (POC) diagnostics services is essential for ensuring rapid disease diagnosis, management, control, and surveillance. POC testing services can improve access to healthcare especially where healthcare infrastructure is weak and access to quality and timely medical care is a cha...
Main Authors: | , , |
---|---|
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
MDPI AG
2017-11-01
|
Series: | Diagnostics |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4418/7/4/58 |
id |
doaj-315bdb2d13b04e4d936d705966422baa |
---|---|
record_format |
Article |
spelling |
doaj-315bdb2d13b04e4d936d705966422baa2020-11-25T00:08:37ZengMDPI AGDiagnostics2075-44182017-11-01745810.3390/diagnostics7040058diagnostics7040058Improving the Accessibility and Efficiency of Point-of-Care Diagnostics Services in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Lean and Agile Supply Chain ManagementDesmond Kuupiel0Vitalis Bawontuo1Tivani P. Mashamba-Thompson2Department of Public Health Medicine, School of Nursing and Public Health, University of KwaZulu-Natal, 4001 Durban, South AfricaFaculty of Health and Allied Sciences, Catholic University College of Ghana, Fiapre, Sunyani, GhanaDepartment of Public Health Medicine, School of Nursing and Public Health, University of KwaZulu-Natal, 4001 Durban, South AfricaAccess to point-of-care (POC) diagnostics services is essential for ensuring rapid disease diagnosis, management, control, and surveillance. POC testing services can improve access to healthcare especially where healthcare infrastructure is weak and access to quality and timely medical care is a challenge. Improving the accessibility and efficiency of POC diagnostics services, particularly in resource-limited settings, may be a promising route to improving healthcare outcomes. In this review, the accessibility of POC testing is defined as the distance/proximity to the nearest healthcare facility for POC diagnostics service. This review provides an overview of the impact of POC diagnostics on healthcare outcomes in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and factors contributing to the accessibility of POC testing services in LMICs, focusing on characteristics of the supply chain management and quality systems management, characteristics of the geographical location, health infrastructure, and an enabling policy framework for POC diagnostics services. Barriers and challenges related to the accessibility of POC diagnostics in LMICs were also discussed. Bearing in mind the reported barriers and challenges as well as the disease epidemiology in LMICs, we propose a lean and agile supply chain management framework for improving the accessibility and efficiency of POC diagnostics services in these settings.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4418/7/4/58accessibilitypoint-of-care diagnosticslow- and middle-income countries |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Desmond Kuupiel Vitalis Bawontuo Tivani P. Mashamba-Thompson |
spellingShingle |
Desmond Kuupiel Vitalis Bawontuo Tivani P. Mashamba-Thompson Improving the Accessibility and Efficiency of Point-of-Care Diagnostics Services in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Lean and Agile Supply Chain Management Diagnostics accessibility point-of-care diagnostics low- and middle-income countries |
author_facet |
Desmond Kuupiel Vitalis Bawontuo Tivani P. Mashamba-Thompson |
author_sort |
Desmond Kuupiel |
title |
Improving the Accessibility and Efficiency of Point-of-Care Diagnostics Services in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Lean and Agile Supply Chain Management |
title_short |
Improving the Accessibility and Efficiency of Point-of-Care Diagnostics Services in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Lean and Agile Supply Chain Management |
title_full |
Improving the Accessibility and Efficiency of Point-of-Care Diagnostics Services in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Lean and Agile Supply Chain Management |
title_fullStr |
Improving the Accessibility and Efficiency of Point-of-Care Diagnostics Services in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Lean and Agile Supply Chain Management |
title_full_unstemmed |
Improving the Accessibility and Efficiency of Point-of-Care Diagnostics Services in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Lean and Agile Supply Chain Management |
title_sort |
improving the accessibility and efficiency of point-of-care diagnostics services in low- and middle-income countries: lean and agile supply chain management |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Diagnostics |
issn |
2075-4418 |
publishDate |
2017-11-01 |
description |
Access to point-of-care (POC) diagnostics services is essential for ensuring rapid disease diagnosis, management, control, and surveillance. POC testing services can improve access to healthcare especially where healthcare infrastructure is weak and access to quality and timely medical care is a challenge. Improving the accessibility and efficiency of POC diagnostics services, particularly in resource-limited settings, may be a promising route to improving healthcare outcomes. In this review, the accessibility of POC testing is defined as the distance/proximity to the nearest healthcare facility for POC diagnostics service. This review provides an overview of the impact of POC diagnostics on healthcare outcomes in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and factors contributing to the accessibility of POC testing services in LMICs, focusing on characteristics of the supply chain management and quality systems management, characteristics of the geographical location, health infrastructure, and an enabling policy framework for POC diagnostics services. Barriers and challenges related to the accessibility of POC diagnostics in LMICs were also discussed. Bearing in mind the reported barriers and challenges as well as the disease epidemiology in LMICs, we propose a lean and agile supply chain management framework for improving the accessibility and efficiency of POC diagnostics services in these settings. |
topic |
accessibility point-of-care diagnostics low- and middle-income countries |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4418/7/4/58 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT desmondkuupiel improvingtheaccessibilityandefficiencyofpointofcarediagnosticsservicesinlowandmiddleincomecountriesleanandagilesupplychainmanagement AT vitalisbawontuo improvingtheaccessibilityandefficiencyofpointofcarediagnosticsservicesinlowandmiddleincomecountriesleanandagilesupplychainmanagement AT tivanipmashambathompson improvingtheaccessibilityandefficiencyofpointofcarediagnosticsservicesinlowandmiddleincomecountriesleanandagilesupplychainmanagement |
_version_ |
1725415454666653696 |