HIV supply chains in low- and middle-income countries: overview and research opportunities
Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management
ISSN: 2042-6747
Article publication date: 4 March 2021
Issue publication date: 19 July 2021
Abstract
Purpose
Despite HIV being reported as one of the major global health issues, availability and accessibility of HIV services and supplies remain limited, especially in low- and middle-income countries. The effective and efficient operation of HIV supply chains is critical to tackle this problem. The purpose of this paper is to give an introduction to HIV supply chains in low- and middle-income countries and identify research opportunities for the operations research/operations management (OR/OM) community.
Design/methodology/approach
First, the authors review a combination of the scientific and grey literature, including both qualitative and quantitative papers, to give an overview of HIV supply chain operations in low- and middle-income countries and the challenges that are faced by organizing such supply chains. The authors then classify and discuss the relevant OR/OM literature based on seven classification criteria: decision level, methodology, type of HIV service modeled, challenges, performance measures, real-life applicability and countries covered. Because research on HIV supply chains in low- and middle-income countries is limited in the OR/OM field, this part also includes papers focusing on HIV supply chain modeling in high-income countries.
Findings
The authors conclude this study by identifying several tendencies and gaps and by proposing future research directions for OR/OM research.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first literature review addressing this specific topic from an OR/OM perspective.
Keywords
Citation
Stulens, S., De Boeck, K. and Vandaele, N. (2021), "HIV supply chains in low- and middle-income countries: overview and research opportunities", Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management, Vol. 11 No. 3, pp. 369-401. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHLSCM-08-2020-0072
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited