Studies have shown that faith-based organizations contribute up to 40% of overall health care services in some places but their specific role in drug supply and procurement activities is not well documented. During 2003, the Ecumenical Pharmaceutical Network (EPN) collaborated with the World Health Organization (WHO) in a descriptive, comparative multi-country study on the work of 16 EPN member faith-based drug supply organizations (DSOs) and their contribution to medicines supply in 11 sub-Saharan African countries. The study involved structured assessments on key functions of these organizations' supply, storage and distribution systems. Specially designed questionnaires were also used to assess how the organizations' services are perceived by their clients, founding bodies and governments. Peer-review on good practices through "learning by evaluating" and by "learning how to evaluate", using paired country assessments, was an important element of the study design. The study produced comprehensive information about DSOs' operations and how their services are perceived.

Source: Chand S, Patterson J. Faith-based models for improving maternal and newborn health. Baltimore, MD: The ACCESS Program, 2007. 

The results confirmed that DSOs are generally performing well, largely due to their transparent procurement procedures, competitive prices and highly motivated staff. They have won the trust of their customers, appreciation from ministries of health and good relationships with their founding church bodies. The study succeeded in showing that faith-based DSOs play a crucial role in terms of increasing access to medicines, especially in rural and other remote areas of Africa, and provide a complementary service where government supply measures may fail to serve the public health system. In such circumstances faith-based DSOs offer a "safety net" function in the pharmaceutical supply system.

 Multi-country study of medicine supply and distribution activities of FBOs in Sub-Saharan countries (1.5 MB) 

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