Health Supplies are an Essential Part of Disaster Response

#NoMatterWhat, humanitarian responders bring relief to people affected by conflict, climate change, and other disasters. World Humanitarian Day honors the aid workers who provide life-saving services in difficult and dangerous working conditions.

Through the Humanitarian Commodities Logistics (HCL) community, JSI supports humanitarian responders and health programs in fragile settings, including Yemen and Iraq. In Yemen, JSI has improved the quality and accessibility of health services with an emphasis on reproductive, maternal, newborn, child health, and nutrition, especially in hard-to-reach areas. See more information about JSI’s work in emergency preparedness and response.

We invite all humanitarian health logisticians to join HCL.

If you work in humanitarian crisis settings, you might have joined the HCL community, a subgroup of the International Association of Public Health Logisticians (IAPHL). Since 2007, IAPHL has supported its members to network, exchange ideas, and improve skills; HCL focuses on those working with health supply chains in the humanitarian context. Members are invited to post questions and comments to the HCL listserv. Our panel of supply chain and HCL experts answer questions, give guidance, and facilitate discussions on topics of interest. We host webinars and add documents and links to the HCL library, which contains a variety of resources on logistics management information systems, procurement, quantification, storage, supply chain assessment, and waste management. Click here for more information about HCL membership. 

If you are not an IAPHL member, you can join at https://iaphl.org/membership/. Then click on the Humanitarian Commodities Logistics link and request membership, which is free of charge.

HCL is supported by the JSI-managed, USAID-funded Building Capacity to Improve Pharmaceutical and Medical Commodity Management in Humanitarian and Emergency Settings program. The program strengthens the capacity of supply chain staff from international and local nongovernment organizations through training, guidance, resources, and follow-up support.