NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Monday, February 3, 2014

Each year, millions of children die before the age of 5, largely from preventable causes. With that staggering number, the task of saving these children’s lives is a daunting challenge.

That said, the solution may not be as complicated as you’d think.

Several aid organizations are coming up with simple, low-cost solutions to reduce under-5 mortality. In Malawi, a U.S.-based development implementer is now working to transition to the government its grant award-winning project that uses mobile phones to help boost the availability of health products locally, a factor seen as critical to help children especially in hard-to-reach areas survive and thrive.

JSI has been testing what it calls an enhanced management approach to improving health supply chain in Malawi. This involves twin solutions: cStock, an open-source information management system to calculate resupply as well as manage and monitor community-level health products, and the formation of District Product Availability Teams, which use data from cStock to solve problems and make timely decisions on health logistics issues.