SUPPLY ANNUAL REPORT 2008 Local Delivery Global ... - Unicef

Partnerships, advocacy, integration
Partnerships are critical to achieving results for children. Supply engages
with a number of global partnerships, including GAVI, the Global Fund on
AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM), UNITAID, the World Bank and
the European Commission Humanitarian Office (ECHO). In 2008, the World
Bank and UNICEF reached a global framework agreement that facilitates
governments procuring supplies and services via UNICEF for health programmes.
The new standard memorandum of understanding means that
quick action can be taken, reducing transaction costs and significantly
increasing efficiency and effectiveness at the field level.
Supply continued its close collaboration with GAVI, as the procurement
agency for six vaccines and safe injection supplies for 60 countries with a
value of $309 million (a 35 per cent increase). We also participated in the
development of the Advance Market Commitment (AMC) for pneumococcal
vaccines for which UNICEF has been appointed procurement agency.
(Pneumonia accounts for 19 per cent of all under-five deaths.)
Making medicines child sized
Advocacy for making child sized medicines
gained further momentum in 2008.
In collaboration with a number of major
partners, Supply undertook a range of important
activities to address the problem
of appropriate medicines for children.
These included: publishing with WHO a
comprehensive guide to ‘Sources and
Prices of Selected Children’s Medicines’,
hosting a major suppliers’ meeting on ensuring
access to fit-for-purpose medicines
for children, and undertaking a survey of
health practitioners on ‘Challenges with
Medicines for Children’.
Our active relationship with suppliers and stakeholders also continued
in the area of product innovation. In 2008, the Division hosted six major
meetings with participation from over 150 companies and numerous
partners from around the world in order to influence the availability, pricing,
quality and formulations of strategic-essential commodities. These meetings
are vital in our strategy to shape markets and our efforts to improve
child survival and development. The year also saw a number of new relationships
initiated, particularly with academia and the private sector.
UN collaboration and harmonisation is an ongoing priority. We are an active
member of the High Level Committee on Management (HLCM) Procurement
Network and its five subcommittees to ensure coherence within the
UN on procurement issues. Supply also works closely with other UN agencies
to exchange practices and utilise each others’ strengths. We actively
support UNICEF participation in the Inter-Agency Standing Committee
humanitarian clusters, and enjoy close working relations with WFP and UN
Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD) in terms of humanitarian response,
joint warehousing operations, and logistics.
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