Making Essential Items Field Ready
THE CHALLENGE
Delivering health services in conflict settings is challenging and services are rapidly overwhelmed, especially when essential equipment breaks down. Importing new equipment is costly and presents many logistical challenges including delays and import restrictions. As a result, affected populations and the aid workers that serve them do not have what they need both where and when they need it most.
THE SOLUTION
To address this issue, Field Ready leveraged technology, local capacities, and markets to locally repair and manufacture essential items. Through Field Ready’s innovative approach, healthcare workers could regain access to and administer critical medical devices that previously were not usable for extended periods due to much-needed repairs and maintenance. In piloting their new model of localized medical product manufacturing in Syria coupled with healthcare worker training, Field Ready significantly reduced the time, costs, and carbon emissions of medical device production and repair without compromising product quality. An external evaluation found that the aggregate cost of Field Ready repairs was 34% of the cost that would have been incurred by traditional methods, while the aggregate number of days taken for these repairs was 56% of what would otherwise be required. Furthermore, in 70% of medical centres, Field Ready’s maintenance and repairs were found to be more precise and of higher quality than those of traditional maintenance suppliers. Given these successes, Field Ready has continued its advocacy efforts through the Local Procurement Learning Partnership which it co-founded, participating in research and webinars on the challenges of local manufacturing, regularly sharing success stories on social media, speaking to known donors and networks, and publishing evidence of the benefits of localized procurement models.
