SIERRA LEONE— The International Rescue Committee (IRC), has launched a US$25,000 prize contest to crowdsource for innovative, affordable medical packaging solutions.
Dubbed the ‘Innovative Packaging for Last Mile Medical Supply Delivery’ Challenge is seeking proposals for innovative and affordable packaging that will protect and track supplies at every stage.
Solutions could win up to US$25,000 for innovative and affordable packaging that meets the Challenge requirements and award criteria.
The IRC is a global humanitarian organization that has helped and continues to help people affected by conflict and disaster since the second world war.
IRC Challenge details
The Challenge was borne out of necessity as ground teams in Sierra Leone have reported severally that medicines, drugs, and other supplies often arrived damaged, or arrived with missing products.
Moreover, the way medical supplies are packaged and/or transported is a major contribution to these issues.
The Challenge’s solution requirements are designed directly to meet these pain points.
Participants should provide solutions with trackability of packaging, resistance to tampering and weather, reusability of the boxes, and affordability – meaning more supplies reach ‘last mile’ clinics more consistently.
Additionally, the IRC has added that the innovations in this area should be priced at a relevant cost point of no more than US$14.80 per year per solution, inclusive of tracking functionality.
Since cost constraints are of paramount importance in this Challenge, the solutions provided can be adopted and used by ground teams, not only in Sierra Leone but across IRC operations globally.
The ‘Innovative Packaging for Last Mile Medical Supply Delivery’ will run until October 9 2023, with expert problem solvers from around the world submitting their ideas to win a share of the US$25,000 award pool.
Using the Wazoku Crowd, the IRC is opening this problem to the world for their novel ideas, concepts, adaptations, or commercially available existing solutions.
Wambui Waithaka, Pharmacy Advisor for the IRC said, “Reusable, trackable, and weather/tamper proof packaging solutions will contribute greatly to our mission, and we hope that this Challenge addresses the deficiencies in current medical supply delivery packaging.”
Waithaka adds that unexplained delays, lack of quality assurance, and loss of stock hamper IRC’s pledge to provide high-quality commodities to meet patient needs and improve health outcomes.
Africa’s healthcare logistics at the last mile need a close look
The IRC notes that delivering medical supplies to people in ‘last mile clinics, the point of medicine and healthcare delivery (usually the last 10km in the supply chain), is a complicated process.
People involved operate across the supply chain, third-party logistics (3PLs), and ground teams from the IRC and beyond.
Technical Health Specialist for the IRC Khadija Saidi commented, “A loss factor of 12% across our distribution cycles can be attributed to theft, spoilage, and tampering due to inadequate packaging: significantly impacting healthcare delivery.”
Khadija added that much of the country had limited options when accessing public healthcare, so any benefit will result in real outcomes.
Moreover, Khadija insists that transitioning to reusable packaging solutions would be more cost-effective and sustainable than current single-use boxes, while also bringing benefits to the overall integrity of the country’s supply chain.
Harry Sangree, Founder and CEO of SeaFreight Labs stated, “At its core, this is a logistics problem – with the twist of a severe cost constraint and a harsh operating environment.”
Sangree added that he was hopeful that the experts in the Wazoku Crowd will apply their creativity and expertise to the problem so that the IRC finds a world-class way to transport life-saving medical supplies to rural clinics.
SeaFreight Labs is serving as a Project Advisor to the IRC on this Challenge.
IRC on their social media platforms posted, “Join the Challenge today to improve the logistics and supply chain of medical supply delivery!”
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