As a matter both of principle and effectiveness, Partners In Health insists that programs to deliver quality medical care and treatment must be grounded in a comprehensive assessment and understanding of local conditions, needs, and available resources. This process of listening to and learning from our patients and their communities is absolutely essential to defining the requirements and priorities of the procurement system.

Requirements and implications for acquiring, shipping, managing and delivering medicines and medical supplies need to be taken into consideration as part of a comprehensive assessment that covers everything from local health conditions to national regulations for registration and import of medicines. Areas of critical importance for procurement include:

• Medical conditions
  Determining what medicines and supplies will be needed and in what quantities hinges on an understanding of the prevalence and severity of diseases in the catchment area.

• Infrastructure
  Before you start shipping, storing and prescribing medicines and supplies, you need to find (or build) and equip a warehouse to keep them in and a pharmacy to use for dispensing them. You will also need to establish a system for managing inventory.

• Personnel
  Procuring and managing stocks of medicines and supplies requires staff with training and responsibility for placing orders, organizing and tracking shipments, and storing and managing stocks.

• Legal and institutional framework
  It is important to be familiar with government rules and regulations and to work closely with the Ministry of Health, which can be helpful in guiding you through the process of becoming a recognized non-profit organization and importer of medicines.