Building on their previous commitment with the Department of Health (DOH) to monitor medicine procurement, NAMFREL implemented a two-phase project aimed at improving the efficiency of health service delivery. The first phase was intended to test the methodology and the second to scale it up. NAMFREL’s team mobilized its local chapters and other local NGOs to train and support community volunteer monitors. Once trained, volunteers engaged in monitoring procurement, distribution, storage, and delivery of essential medicines in hospitals and regional Centers for Health Development (CHD). Watching for omissions in the procurement processes and flaws in the distribution chain, volunteers identified issues related to discrepancies in distribution to hospitals and CHDs; availability of medicines and their cost; and inadequacy of storage facilities. During the project’s second phase, NAMFREL introduced three new measures in order to improve the methodology: a warehouse checklist; a pricing survey; and a process to gather and check hospitals’ and CHDs’ documents. Hospital and CHD principals, as well as the DOH, supported the project from the outset, which increased responsiveness of officers at all levels. After the project ended, NAMFREL continued to mobilize volunteers around health procurement.
*This profile was built using information from http://ptfund.org/
