Life in Numbers
What is the Global FP VAN?
Limited access to a choice of safe, affordable contraceptives undermines efforts to increase contraceptive prevalence, both globally and at country-level.
For the Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition (RHSC), access to supplies is all about knowing where products are as they make their journey from manufacturer to user. Governments, global procurers and manufacturers need the right information to know where products are to plan, estimate needs, and ultimately act when movement is blocked. The RHSC and its members have more than 15 years of experience providing visibility into supply chains and bringing together the people, processes, policies and tools needed for joint decision making.
We have a long history of averting disruptions in the flow of supplies. Today, we carry on that tradition by assembling under a single umbrella all the functions formerly played by initiatives such as the Coordinated Assistance for Reproductive Health (CARhs) and Coordinated Supply Planning (CSP) groups, the RH Interchange, and the Procurement Planning and Monitoring Report. That umbrella― the Global Family Planning Visibility and Analytics Network , or VAN for short―captures data from multiple sources to improve what we call “supply chain visibility”. The VAN offers our community a platform to assess supply needs, prioritize them, and act when supply imbalances loom. Our aim is to see: (a) more timely and cost-effective delivery of commodities to countries; (b) more women reached with the right product at the right time; and (c) better coordination in allocating limited health resources.
Data & Technology
Policy
People
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