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Case Study
Re-packing of female
condom saves money,
reduces product loss,
and greatly improves distribution
process.
The Power of the Re-Packing
Staff re-packaging the female condoms in
packs of 20 pieces.
In per diem, fuel, and
vehicle wear-and-tear,
the re-packaging
process translates to
approximately $10,000
in savings.
Challenge
Until recently, female condom distributors in Zimbabwe received
female condoms in cartons of 1,000. Delivering the goods to
individual clinics was a painstaking exercise because teams had to
count out product in quantities ranging from 20 to 12,000 per
delivery. Moreover, a single delivery round could last up to 20
working days and cover two or three districts, making it difficult to
deliver the right quantity to the right place. Not surprisingly, teams
sometimes skipped the counting process to save time, choosing to
rely on estimated counts. In addition, all the handling meant that
some condom packets became soiled and went to waste.
Zimbabwe needed to figure out a way to make its deliveries more
accurate, avoid wasting product through over handling, and
improve record keeping for its female condom program, which is a
vital part of USAID’s reproductive health and HIV/AIDs program.
Initiative
To improve the situation, USAID is helped by its partner JSI to
repackage each box of 1,000 into 50 smaller clear plastic bags
containing 20 female condoms each. The female condom’s expiry
date and batch numbers were also made visible. Once repackaged
into twenties with labels in place, the plastic bags were
tied and returned to the carton and the carton was sealed with
packaging tape. Within three weeks, JSI was able to repackage
1.7 million condoms, relying on a team of 40 people hired for the
job. For quality control, each staff member was asked to discreetly
append his/her initials in one top-hand corner of the carton to
make sure that, should there be negative feedback on a given
carton, the information could be easily linked to him or her.
Results
The repackaging reduced the time that team leaders spent at each
clinic during a delivery run, increased the accuracy of stock counts
and consumption calculations, and made it easier for health facilities
to dispense those products which were set to expire first. It
eliminated repeated handling, and helped motivate team leaders to
do complete physical counts, which improves the accuracy of data
collected for female condoms. It also saved money: in per diem,
fuel, and vehicle wear-and-tear, the re-packaging process translates
to approximately $10,000 in savings.
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