Nationwide Sensitization and Training on GS1 Standards and Traceability
Traceability of Vaccines and HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (ATM) Health Commodities Preparatory to Traceability Pilots
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (FMoHSW) have led a series of sensitization and capacity-building programmes on the traceability of vaccines and HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (ATM) health commodities across Nigeria, with GS1 Nigeria also facilitating the sessions and providing technical support on GS1 Standards and traceability.
The programme comprises both completed and ongoing training activities, designed to build the capacity of stakeholders across the public and private healthcare supply chains on the importance and practical application of GS1 Standards, product identification, location identification, barcode scanning, data capture and end-to-end traceability.
Through these engagements, stakeholders are being equipped with the knowledge and practical understanding required to support the implementation of traceability within their respective areas of the healthcare supply chain.
Training Across the Healthcare Supply Chain
The sensitization and training programme has engaged, and continues to engage, stakeholders involved in the management, distribution and use of vaccines and ATM health commodities, including:
- Local Government cold chain officers responsible for vaccine management and distribution.
- Public-sector logisticians and supply-chain personnel.
- Healthcare facilities and healthcare workers.
- Pharmaceutical manufacturers.
- Pharmaceutical importers.
- Distributors and wholesalers.
- Retail pharmacies and community pharmacists.
- Other relevant public- and private-sector stakeholders.
The trainings provided participants with an understanding of the role of GS1 Standards in creating a common language for identifying products, locations and supply-chain events, thereby enabling greater visibility and traceability across the healthcare supply chain.
Vaccine Traceability Training – Ongoing
Sensitization and training activities for Local Government, State Government and National cold chain officers and other stakeholders involved in vaccine logistics and management provided participants with an understanding of how standards-based identification and traceability can be applied within the vaccine supply chain, with further engagements being conducted to reach additional stakeholders and strengthen capacity at different levels of the vaccine supply chain.
This occurred preparatory to the COVID-19 Traceability Pilots and Vaccine Traceability implementation. The sessions focused and continue to focus on the identification and tracking of vaccine products and locations, accurate data capture, recording product movements and strengthening visibility across the cold chain — from storage and distribution points through to healthcare facilities.
The programme is intended to ensure that relevant personnel across the vaccine supply chain are progressively equipped to support the implementation and sustainability of traceability.
Sensitization Towards Other Traceability Pilots
1. Public-Sector Logisticians and Healthcare Facility Training for ATM Pilots
Training and sensitization have also been conducted for public-sector logisticians, health commodity managers, healthcare facilities and healthcare workers responsible for receiving, storing, managing, dispensing and using ATM health commodities. The sensitization activities reached stakeholders across the six geopolitical zones.
These sessions emphasized the importance of accurate and timely data capture at every stage of the supply chain and demonstrated how GS1 Standards can support improved inventory management, product visibility, stock monitoring and traceability from the point of receipt through storage and distribution to the point of care.
2. Pharmaceutical Industry and Private-Sector Training
As part of the completed sensitization activities for the HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (ATM) commodity traceability pilot, NAFDAC and the Federal Ministry of Health, with GS1 Nigeria facilitating the GS1 Standards and traceability component, conducted workshops for private-sector stakeholders across Nigeria.
The sensitization activities reached stakeholders across the six geopolitical zones.
These engagements have included pharmaceutical manufacturers, importers, distributors, wholesalers, retail pharmacies and community pharmacists.
The trainings introduce participants to their respective roles within an interconnected traceability system and cover areas including product identification, barcode implementation, location identification, data capture and the tracking and tracing of products as they move through the supply chain.
Participants were introduced to GS1 Standards and their application in uniquely identifying products for anticounterfeiting purposes and tracking commodities as they move through the supply chain. The sessions also highlighted the importance of accurate and timely data in strengthening supply-chain visibility and improving the traceability of essential health commodities.
Scanner Deployment
Following the sensitization workshops, these pilots progressed towards practical implementation, including the deployment of scanners and the Scan2Verify mobile application developed by NAFDAC to support product scanning and traceability data capture.
Strengthening Capacity for End-to-End Traceability
The combination of completed and ongoing training activities represents an important component of Nigeria's efforts to strengthen end-to-end traceability of vaccines and ATM health commodities.
By engaging stakeholders across the supply chain — from manufacturers and importers through distributors and pharmacies to public-sector logistics systems, cold chain operations and healthcare facilities — the programme promotes a coordinated understanding of traceability and the respective responsibilities of stakeholders.
Adoption of GS1 Standards and Traceability Supports:
- Improved visibility of vaccines and ATM health commodities.
- Improved pharmacovigilance and anticounterfeiting.
- Accurate identification of products and locations.
- Better inventory management and stock monitoring.
- Improved tracking and tracing of commodities across the supply chain.
- Greater supply-chain accountability and transparency.
- More accurate and timely data capture.
- Reduction of errors associated with manual processes.
- Faster identification and management of supply-chain issues.
- Strengthened product identification and authentication.
- Improved readiness for regulatory traceability requirements.
- Enhanced availability of essential medicines, vaccines and health commodities.
- Improved patient safety and public health outcomes.
Continuing the Journey Towards Traceability
The nationwide training programme is an ongoing capacity-building effort towards traceability, building on training sessions that have already been completed and extending engagement to additional stakeholders and locations.
Through the leadership of NAFDAC and the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, and with GS1 Nigeria facilitating and providing technical expertise on GS1 Standards and traceability, the programme continues to strengthen the capacity of stakeholders to implement and sustain standards-based traceability across Nigeria's healthcare supply chains.
These completed and ongoing efforts represent significant progress towards establishing a connected, visible and traceable healthcare supply chain, supporting the effective management of healthcare commodities, ensuring that essential health commodities can be tracked from their source through the supply chain to healthcare facilities and ultimately to the patients who need them.
