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DHL and Gavi set up alliance to boost vaccine delivery

GERMAN global logistics giant Deutsche Post DHL teamed up with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, in a global partnership to improve vaccine supply chains.

Over the next three years, DHL will provide Gavi-supported countries with efficient supply chain solutions to improve health care delivery.

A joint statement by the two parties said: "As immunisation programmes expand to include new, life-saving vaccines and strive to reach more people, often in remote areas, they are increasingly constrained by outdated supply chains.

"With vaccine volumes continuing to increase and the persistence of often weak or broken health systems, there is a critical need for improvements in immunisation supply chain infrastructure."

This is not Gavi's first such alliance. In October 2016, the Rwandan government launched the world's first national drone delivery service to transport medical supplies to hard-to-reach places. While the service is focused initially on the transfer of blood, a partnership between US-based express firm UPS, Gavi and Californian firm Zipline will help expand it to other types of medicines and vaccines.

The drones, designed and operated by Zipline, will make up to 150 on-demand deliveries of blood to 21 transfusing facilities located in the western half of the country.

In this new alliance, DHL and Gavi aim to increase immunisation coverage, reduce vaccine wastage and better ensure vaccine availability and potency and will ultimately help reduce child mortality, reported London's Air Cargo News.

Kenya is one of the first countries to benefit from the new partnership, announcing an initiative with DHL. Together Gavi, DHL and the Kenyan Ministry of Health will test a dedicated transportation management solution for the efficient distribution of vaccines throughout the East African country.

Frank Appel, chief executive of Deutsche Post DHL, said: "This enhanced relationship will allow Deutsche Post DHL Group to contribute its world class supply chain expertise and network towards making a real difference to vaccine distribution in the developing world ?and, with this, to improve lives."

Seth Berkley, chief executive of Gavi, said: "Robust vaccine supply chains are a vital part of building strong health systems, so that children, parents, and communities can be reached wherever they live with life-saving vaccines. DHL's expertise in healthcare delivery and its footprint in sub-Saharan Africa will help the partnership develop and test new innovative solutions aimed at increasing the health impact in Gavi-supported countries."