VillageReach is a social enterprise that aims to “improves access to healthcare for remote, underserved communities around the world. We partner with governments, businesses, nonprofits, and other organizations to improve the performance and reliability of health systems in the most inaccessible and isolated last mile communities” (http://villagereach.org/about-us/about-villagereach/). The organization has built a bottom up integrated support system to serve the last mile segment. The system uses modern business management techniques and advanced technology to generate accurate, ongoing information regarding needs at the last mile. As a result, medical supply distribution systems can be turned into “pull” systems that are responsive to and support the health centers, health workers, outreach teams and ultimately the people they serve. The overall operational model is as follows:
The operational model can be scaled up to create a supply chain for low-resource countries:
Further information regarding VillageReach can be found in this fascinating video: