Introduction: Product Selection
This presentation provides an explanation of product selection processes for family planning commodities.
Implementation of Sexual and Reproductive Health Programs
This toolkit describes the planning and implementation of reproductive health services and programs. Resources include communication materials for behavioral change around family planning, tools specifically focused on adolescent health, and community-oriented tools.
Supply Chain Management
This toolkit describes the planning and implementation of management activities and procurement of basic health products. Supply chain management resources provide guidance to achieve the goal of delivering the right products to the right people, at the right time, and in the right amount.
Implementation of Sexual and Reproductive Health Programs for Adolescents
This toolkit describes the planning and implementation of reproductive health services and programs, specifically for adolescent populations. The resources include behavior change communication materials, tools specifically focused around adolescent health, and community-oriented tools.
Product Selection
Product selection is a key phase of the logistics cycle. It determines what products are procured and used by the health system, in addition to the range of products available. Selecting products enables the design and execution of a nationally coordinated logistics system and permits the redistribution of products throughout the system.
Prioritizing specific products is a useful way for supply chain managers to ensure product availability. This can be done by compiling a designated list of essential products and medicines which are helpful in meeting the needs of a program or health system. While most countries have developed such lists of based on World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations, the governing bodies responsible for product selection vary depending on the country and context. Examples of various governing bodies include a national formulary and therapeutics committee, a pharmaceutical board, a board of physicians, or another government-appointed agency.
Product selection is a prerequisite to quantification because it identifies the products that should be quantified. In the next module discusses quantification and programming in more detail. The following tools explain the process in which medicines and supplies are chosen to meet the needs of the user identified during forecasting.
Documents
Revised list of medicines and supplies for reproductive health and maternal, child and infant health to strengthen the health supply chain in Belize
The Essential Drugs List serves an example of a must-follow reference tool. This list is for prescribers and dispensers, as well as for the Committee of Rational Drug Use and Health Supplies (CRUHS) to document good practices of prescription, dispensation, use and managing of essential medicines.