PUBLICATION ANNOUNCEMENT:

Arlington, VA-If family planning programs in developing countries want to be successful, they have to effectively manage their supply chains, delivering the right goods in the right quantities in the right condition at the right time to the right place for the right cost to the right customer. A new publication, Programs That Deliver: Logistics' Contributions to Better Health in Developing Countries, explains why.

Funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and administered by John Snow, Inc., the Family Planning Logistics Management (FPLM) project, has published the 117-page monograph to call attention to the importance of supply chain or logistics management for family planning programs in underserved areas around the world.

Programs That Deliver, which will be distributed internationally to policymakers and public health program managers, outlines the critical logistics lessons learned by FPLM, a project working since 1986 in approximately 40 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. The result of 15 years of collaboration with national family planning and health programs and nongovernmental organizations interested in improving their supply chains, the monograph contains a careful description of why health and family planning programs cannot succeed unless the supply chain delivers a reliable, continuous supply of contraceptives and essential products to customers.

Throughout the publication, in highlighted boxes, tables, graphs, and photos, real-life examples from the field illustrate points made in the text. Programs That Deliver also provides a number of different perspectives on the logistics management process, focusing chapters on the policymaker's role in improving and supporting the supply chain, the customer's point of view, and the needs and motivations of the people and organizations coordinating logistics systems.

In addition, Programs That Deliver explains the key components of a logistics system and discusses trends that affect and may transform family planning and public health supply chain management in developing countries-issues such as health sector reform, decentralization, cost recovery, the donor environment, and the role of the private sector.

To order a copy, send an E-mail to: FPLM_Project@jsi.com or call Heather Davis at (703) 528-7474. By September 2000, Programs That Deliver also will be available on the FPLM Web site at http://www.fplm.jsi.com. Each chapter will be posted in PDF format and ready to download.