Ambassador promotes VAN ‘anywhere, everywhere’
Claudette Diogo
Nearly a year ago, Claudette Diogo “wholeheartedly” accepted the invitation to become an Ambassador of the VAN. Ms. Diogo, who is Family Planning and Logistics Officer at the Ghana Health Service, is also currently the Acting National Family Planning Programme Manager. She is responsible for ensuring adequate stocks for all public health programs in Ghana.
Ms. Diogo knows first-hand how the VAN transformed supply-chain visibility in her country, and she was one of the driving forces behind the transition from the former data reporting system, the PPMR, into the VAN’s global platform. She remembers how fragmented reproductive health supply data used to be, not to mention the tedious manual work that went into data gathering and collation before the VAN was launched. Now, users can click on any commodity to get details on funders and estimated times of arrival of commodities.
The VAN is the first fully scaled control tower in the public health sphere. Its 100 members can track over 6,000 shipments of 40 products across 136 countries in real time. Its Ambassador Initiative has recruited seven veteran supply chain professionals to actively raise the VAN’s profile. The initiative’s strategy calls for Ambassadors who are knowledgeable and influential, who speak to the VAN’s best practices and positive impact.
As an avid VAN fan, Ms. Diogo was thrilled to take on the role of Ambassador. We caught up with her in the middle of her busy schedule so she could share her vision for the VAN.
RHSC: Ms. Diogo, why did you accept this role as VAN Ambassador?
CD: I have used the VAN and continue to do so. I have tried it and I know its benefits. I used to look to the PPMR[i] for my data, and I recognize how much easier it is now to access the data I need from the VAN in my work as a country program manager. Every data feed is accurate to a fault, and we can base our supply chain decisions on this information with 100% confidence.
Using this enhanced data visibility, we’ve been able to detect existing stocks of oral contraceptives in Ghana, and so stop additional product coming into the country, thereby avoiding expensive overstocks and inevitable expiries. Conversely, we’ve been able to detect shortages of DMPA-SC in government facilities as well as social marketing organizations, and therefore we were able to expedite shipments, thus avoiding stockouts and empty shelves.
The VAN is the future, and I want to share the good news with everyone I know.
RHSC: What do you contribute to your role as Ambassador?
CD: I take the opportunity to talk about the VAN anywhere and everywhere I go. I frequently attend public health programming events and I discuss data visibility because data is a big thing. I recently completed a STAR scholarship program in supply chain management leadership offered by Johnson & Johnson. I was honored to be selected out of a competitive international process to be an inaugural scholar and I took this opportunity to share everything I knew about the VAN and how it could solve supply chain issues, thereby spreading the news to partners in the private sector as well as health organizations of other countries.
RHSC: What would you like to see in the future?
CD: The VAN can grow beyond reproductive health supplies to include HIV, TB, malaria — all public health programming in Ghana. Seriously. That is really where I hope we will get as a country, and that is what I hope for every country.
But let’s talk about sustainability for a moment. There’s no such thing as a free lunch, and I hope that more and more members upgrade to a paid, premium membership, thereby enjoying increased data visibility from the VAN and supporting the platform in a reliable way. It is something I believe in passionately.
Last year (fellow VAN Ambassador) Cletus Adohinzin invited me to share Ghana’s story with West African Health Organization beneficiaries, including Liberia, Sierra Leone and many Francophone African countries. I know countries want to hear about how to improve their own data visibility and improve their supply chains. Resources are limited but if country teams realize the advantages of a premium VAN membership, they will be able to come up with the commitment. It is a matter of them budgeting to avoid stockouts and overstocks. Budgeting to become sustainable country owners of their own data.
I dedicate my future efforts toward building sustainability in the VAN. I imagine I will always be an ambassador for this platform. Whether or not I am with the health service, I believe I will go on. Yes, wherever I find myself, I will go on.
