By Wasita Royal
The East New Britain Provincial Health Authority (ENBPHA) has adopted a new electronic procurement and supply chain management system. This follows a week-long training for over 20 health staff on the electronic Logistics Management Information System (e-LMIS).
The training was facilitated by UNFPA Papua New Guinea and delivered by the mSupply Foundation. UNFPA PNG Reproductive Health Program Analyst Raymond Bondo’ou said the training focuses on ensuring the consistent availability of family planning commodities.
He explained that this is critical for PNG, which has the highest maternal mortality rate in the Asia-Pacific region (189 deaths per 100,000 live births). Contributing factors include low skilled birth attendance (56%) and limited access to family planning, with a couple years protection rate of only 37%, excluding single women and girls.
Bondo’ou said the e-LMIS system will allow health workers to accurately track stock and report consumption. This data will enable the National Department of Health to better plan and procure the necessary amounts of contraceptives, moving away from manual paper records used by 70% of facilities.
“The training is part of initiatives targeting these indicators, with more health care workers trained on the supply chain from procurement to service delivery points,” said Bondo’ou.
He stressed that strengthening the supply pathway for contraceptives is essential to giving women the option to choose family planning, particularly in challenging rural areas, with the ultimate aim of reducing the high number of preventable maternal deaths.
This initiative is a core part of UNFPA PNG’s 7th Country Program, which aims to strengthen reproductive health commodity supply chains. East New Britain is the second of eight priority provinces to receive the training.
