“If it is easy for the local store to track food, why can’t we do the same with something essential in healthcare like vaccines,” said Brian Taliesin, Senior Program Officer, PATH.

The process of collecting and transcribing the batch/lot number on vaccines packages and reporting stock inventory by hand is not only cumbersome, but a source of human error. In 2012, the government of Tanzania started cooperate with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to improve the collection of data about vaccines use. With the support of GS1 standards to track and trace vaccines was made easier and the feedback of the use to create visibility has been positive. The data is timely and accurate and foreseen labour savings across various business processes include:

• 50-60% improvements in tracking stock movement, counting the stock, expiry date management, and ordering
• 2-5% improvements in demand planning, data cleansing and synchronisation
• 2-4% improvements in reverse logistics associated with the locating, identifying, returning, and receipt of recalled health commodities.

Find more information about how standards support an improved vaccine supply chain in Tanzania here.