Logistics Management Tool Brings New Strength to Vietnam’s Fight Against TB

An estimated 170,000 people contract TB each year in Vietnam. In the past, TB patients received free TB drugs funded by the national budget and international donors. But last year, for the first time ever, a TB patient received medication under Vietnam’s social health insurance (SHI) program. 

To manage the supply of medications and maintain continuity of care, Vietnam’s National Tuberculosis Program began using a new, electronic logistics management information system (e-LMIS) developed with support from Abt staff as part of the Abt-led USAID Local Health System Sustainability Project (LHSS).

Through e-LMIS, health facilities across Vietnam can input their estimated drug demand for the upcoming procurement cycle. The e-LMIS system automatically aggregates these data to inform the National TB Program’s centralized drug procurement process, which occurs every two years. TB drug suppliers also have access to e-LMIS, helping them monitor upcoming supply and shipping needs in real time.

Thuy Nguyen, who heads the pharmacy department at the National Lung Hospital, described how e-LMIS is easing her department’s work. “If e-LMIS were not in place, we would have to use an Excel spreadsheet to aggregate data sent by health facilities and provincial TB programs and, at the same time, compare the data with those in the hard copies sent along with the Excel ones. E-LMIS really helps us solve a huge workload in a shorter time with less human labor and reduced errors.”

e-LMIS system in TB facilities across the country

In April 2023, LHSS partnered with the Vietnam Ministry of Health and Vietnam Social Security to grant e-LMIS accounts to the National TB Program, 63 provincial TB programs, TB treatment facilities, and TB drug suppliers.

Abt supported training, including providing some trainers, for nearly 2,000 health staff from health facilities and TB programs across 63 provinces on TB drug quantification — the process of estimating drug demand. The courses focused on using the new e-LMIS functions for drug quantification, reallocation, usage management, and reporting.

“The training created forums for health facilities to share their work and challenges to integrating into the SHI scheme and supplying SHI TB drugs to patients. Actual situations offered lessons learned for others,” said Thuy.

Since the training, all TB treatment facilities across Vietnam have been using the e-LMIS to estimate their drug needs for the upcoming 2024–2025 procurement cycle.