A novel approach for improving supply chain management for SARS-CoV-2 point-of-care diagnostic services in resource-limited settings

<p>This was a multiphase mixed methods study consisted of three phases, starting with a geospatial analysis to assess the spatial distribution of COVID-19 point of care (POC) testing services in the Mopani District. Phase 2 involved an audit of primary healthcare (PHC) clinics providing COVID-19 POC diagnostic services to evaluate the impact of supply chain management (SCM) on accessibility and identify barriers and enablers. Based on the findings from the initial phases, Phase 3 employed a nominal group technique (NGT) to collaborate with key stakeholders in co-creating a novel approach for improving SCM systems for COVID-19 POC diagnostic services.</p> <p>For geospatial analysis, ArcGIS 10.8.2 software was employed to determine the following:</p> <p>i) the physical location of PHC clinics and district hospitals (areas of supply)</p> <p>ii) the population distribution (areas of demand)</p> <p>iii) calculated the travel distances from areas of demand to areas of supply</p> <p>iv) examined variations of spatial accessibility in different areas and </p> <p>v) identified areas with a paucity of COVID-19 diagnostic services.</p> <p><br></p> <p>For the audit, we utilised an audit tool and the dataset contains the supply chain management compliance score for all the audited facilities. For the NGT, we used a qualitative data analysis approach (involving key stakeholders) in the co-creation of a novel approach for improving SCM. The dataset contains barriers and strategies that the key stakeholders identified. The barriers and strategies are ranked according to priority.</p>