Devex: PEPFAR chief questions U.S. approach to supply chain technical assistance
“Speaking to United States lawmakers in a congressional hearing on Thursday, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Deborah Birx questioned whether the $3 billion spent on supply chain technical assistance since 2009 had been used effectively. ‘When you talk to the Global Fund, when you talk to the field, the one comment that continues to come up is the integrity of the supply chain. So, there is an issue there that persists, despite a significant investment,’ Birx told a House of Representatives subcommittee, which had gathered to ask questions about the U.S. Agency for International Development’s global health supply chain project. Birx, who has led the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief since the Obama administration, said that the congressional inquiry into USAID’s $9.5 billion project — being implemented by Chemonics International — has, ‘asked us to step back, to really say … why, 15 years in, are we talking about glitches in the system?’…” (Igoe, 5/21).