Improvements to the Public Distribution of Essential Medicines in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Case of Zambia

Remarkable and successful recent improvements efforts by the government and its partners have improved the access to essential drugs in Zambia. However, through changes in the inventory control system the improved public distribution system could still be enhanced to reach higher standards of availability. We present a possible alternative system design involving mobile devices and optimization and evaluate this proposal via a simulation model built with field data. Our results suggest that this proposal would improve drug availability at the clinics and reduce inventory and drug expiry costs.