When a doctor requests treatment for a patient in an out-of-reach country, my job is to ensure medicine gets to that patient. Multiply this by 30,000 patients across 70+ countries, and our supply chain becomes a complex system of forecasting demand, requesting donations, shipping medicines, tracking product and confirming deliveries at each destination.
I recently spoke at the ReConnect 2021 conference, along with my colleague Michael Wrigglesworth, Senior Director of Program Strategy and Data Solutions, about how The Max Foundation connects supply chain and technology. It was an opportunity to share how our unique patient-centric model is supported by our supply chain activities that increase global access to treatment.
The two-day event featured speakers from diverse organizations, including other NGOs, such as VillageReach discussing drone delivery of medicines, and industry, such as logistics provider Expeditors International. Our presentation was entitled “Medicine Distribution in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Technologies and Supply Chains” and was moderated by Dr. Surya Pathak, professor at the University of Washington School of Business.
The well-organized conference enabled us to provide some practical examples of how our Patient Access Tracking System is enhancing processes to make our supply chain more data-driven. Through interconnected technology, we’re able to successfully track stocks of medicine and forecast for future deliveries, all to get medicine into the hands of those in need. Particularly over the past 18 months of the global pandemic, we have remained resolute in our commitment to maximize our impact through innovation and collaboration.
The Max Foundation is a leading global health nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating health equity. For 28 years, Max has pioneered practical, scalable, high-quality solutions to bring life-extending treatments and patient-centered health care to more than 100,000 people living with cancer and critical illness in low- and middle-income countries. Max believes in a world where all people can access high-impact medicines, where geography is not destiny, and where everyone can strive for health with dignity and with hope.
For World Cancer Day, GlobalWA interviewed Max CEO Pat Garcia-Gonzalez to hear about the many lessons she has learned in this work, and how both cancer treatment and patients’ access to treatment globally has changed.
They’re patients, physicians, pharmacists, police officers, caregivers, and cancer care advocates stepping up to help vulnerable patients continue to have access to treatment throughout the global pandemic closures.
Thousands of patients are diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) annually around the world. CML, like any other cancer, does not discriminate. It affects people from all regions and walks of life. However, unlike many other cancers, CML has an amazing story due to advancements made in its treatment in the last decade. It was only 15 years ago that a patient newly diagnosed with CML would have a prognosis of survival of less than 5 years with the treatments available at the time.
