The world’s inhabitants has reached 8 billion. This is a milestone for humanity and a second for reflection, together with for the Small Island Developing States such because the Pacific nations, as a result of the reproductive well being and rights (SRH) of girls and women should be protected regardless of demographic developments, to allow the entire communities and nations to thrive.

In order for governments to guard their fellow citizen ladies’s and women’ reproductive well being and rights – by reaching the furthest behind first and leaving nobody behind – they should first know precisely who’ve SRH wants, what sorts of SRH wants they’re, the place they reside and so forth. This is why the supply of real-time, disaggregated, high-quality information is critically vital for nationwide and native policy-makers, planning and finances officers. And so is ‘visualization’ of such information for ease of their use.

To help Pacific Small Island nations on this endeavor, the United Nations Population (UNFPA) Pacific has been contributing digital options. One is Tupaia, a customisable digital platform managed by Beyond Essential Systems (BES), which is now utilized by governments and companions throughout the Pacific to mixture and visualise information relating to reproductive well being providers and commodities. This is in help of the UNFPA Supplies Partnership and UNFPA’s ‘Transformative Agenda for Women Adolescents and Youth in the Pacific’ Programme funded by Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), which has up to now been carried out in six nations: Fiji, Kiribati, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu.

In Tupaia, information is coming in from a number of sources together with UNFPA-supported Health Facility Readiness and Service Availability Assessments, spot-checks of well being amenities, and coaching information, to populate visuals exhibiting info vital for planning and budgeting for reproductive well being providers. The dashboards make it potential for customers on the regional, nationwide, and sub-national ranges to evaluate information, even drilling proper all the way down to the power degree. Tupaia thus strengthens provide chain administration and permits authorities officers and growth practitioners to focus on providers and sources for sexual and reproductive well being to the areas of the best want.

Another digitalisation effort employed by UNFPA Pacific and governments throughout the area is mSupply, an digital logistics administration info system used to streamline provide chain processes all through procurement, forecasting, warehousing, distribution and reporting.

UNFPA Pacific has arrange the ‘UNFPA Supplier Hub’ that hyperlinks the mSupply system inside UNFPA Pacific to the mSupply techniques of the central warehouses primarily based in Fiji, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu. Through the UNFPA Supplier Hub, nations can place orders instantly with UNFPA in a matter of seconds. This digitalisation effort has expedited the ordering course of and made it simpler for governments to obtain and file inventory upon arrival. The device additionally calculates info corresponding to common month-to-month consumption and generates reviews for decision-making.

Mr. Samuela Tuisavura, Warehouse Operations Manager, Fiji Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Services Centre (FPBSC), Ministry of Health and Medical Services, is amongst many well being officers within the Pacific area who’re making the most of quite a lot of options and capabilities that the UNFPA-supported mSupply utility gives. “I like the real time data that mSupply generates to help us make decisions quickly,” stated Mr. Tuisavura.

Before the implementation of the mSupply utility, there have been solely 4 well being amenities for which the Ministry was in a position to monitor the stock actions, together with the three Divisional hospitals. In distinction, now with mSupply, logistics information is changing into obtainable proper all the way down to the distant and lowest degree well being amenities and nursing stations.

“mSupply is not only helpful to the Ministry of Health and Medical Services. It is beneficial to the whole population of Fiji because it visualizes which medical supplies are readily available now, and where. mSupply is a simple, efficient and user friendly application,” says Mr. Tuisavura. He explains the advantages and utility of this utility, including that “Generating reports about near-to-expiry, or expired items, and slow-moving stocks in the warehouse used to take a while, in the past. But with the mSupply application, it now takes me only 2-3 minutes to produce.” mSupply can also be linked to Tupaia to allow the show of inventory available info at any degree of the availability chain that makes use of mSupply.

With the worldwide inhabitants reaching 8 billion together with 2.5 million within the 14 Pacific Island Countries and Territories that UNFPA Pacific serves, the usage of modern digital options, corresponding to Tupaia and mSupply, will help Pacific governments to safeguard the supply and high quality of sexual and reproductive well being medicines and providers, guaranteeing nobody is left behind. Women who’ve reproductive selections and entry to well being providers are extra empowered to pursue schooling, search and hold higher jobs, contribute to family revenue, and raise households out of poverty, thus contributing to additional socio-economic growth of her neighborhood and nation as an entire.

“Empowering women to manage their sexual and reproductive health is an investment that benefits everyone. Therefore, investment on accurate and easily accessible information about their sexual and reproductive health and rights benefits all as well,” says Iori Kato, UNFPA Director for the Pacific and Representative in Fiji.