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This paper aims to examine lean thinking in medical commodities supply chains by considering its applications and success factors. It determines the drivers and wastes of medical commodity supply chain, and the existing lean tools and practices together with their application in the supply chain processes. The paper also examined the challenges and success factors for effective lean application in the medical commodities supply chains.

The study used qualitative approaches, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with key informants to form the basis for data collection. Through thematic analysis, the collected data were analyzed by developing themes reflecting the objectives of the study.

The main drivers for waste associated with the supply chain were demand management, supplier development, institutional framework and governance. The wastes were observed at the level of inventory, operation costs, transaction costs, delays in terms of service, commodity delivery time and quality. Digitalization, information technology and standardization were the tools for medical supply chain. Poor infrastructure, unreliable internet supply, environmental uncertainty and poor management support were challenges to realizing an effective supply chain.

Although the qualitative approach used in the study provides detailed information, a quantitative study covers a larger sample for generalization.

Capacity building and professionalism should be given a priority because the philosophy of lean focuses on waste removal and continuous improvement, which highly depends on the quality of human resource (Brito et al., 2020). Limited human resource capabilities in supply chain management will, therefore, result into poor operational efficiency, which are wasted. Moreover, systems interoperability is key waste minimization and, therefore, demands interventions.

The government under the Ministry of Health and other key sector ministries such as local and regional governments should better understand the role of the waste drivers and adopt system-wide reforms to support improvements to remove waste in the medical supply chain. For example, the current institutional framework creates an administrative block and hence leads to wastes. This bureaucratic procedure should be removed to minimize wastes along the chain.

This study is among the first studies to determine applicability and implementation of lean in a resource-constrained context. The paper identifies contextual factors for lean implementation. This paper focused on a holistic view of the entire supply chains to enhance a well-functioning supply chain in delivering health commodities.

Blockchain technology enhances information management in healthcare supply chains by securing healthcare information and providing medical resource traceability. However, there is no decision framework to support blockchain implementation for managing information, especially in emerging economies’ healthcare supply chains. This paper develops a hierarchical decision model for implementing blockchain technology for information management in emerging economies’ healthcare supply chains.

This study uses 20 health supply chain experts in Ghana to rank 17 decision criteria for implementing blockchain for healthcare information management using the best-worst method (BWM) multi-criteria decision technique.

The results show that “security” and “privacy,” “infrastructural facility” and “presence of training facilities” are the top three critical factors impacting blockchain adoption in the health supply chain for healthcare information management. Other sub-factors are prioritized.

To implement blockchain effectively to enhance information management in the healthcare supply chain, health institutions, blockchain technology providers and state authorities should concentrate on the highly critical factors extracted from the study.

This is the first study that develops a hierarchical decision model for implementing blockchain technology in emerging economies' health supply chains.

This study aims to document students’ supply chain solutions developed through the internship hackathon program. The study profiled innovative solutions developed by university students in Kenya to solve health supply chain logistics challenges during and beyond COVID-19. This is done by exploring students’ experience in developing sustainable logistics and supply chain management capacity-building programs in a low-middle-income country (LMIC).

This study used a qualitative approach to explore the experiences and perceptions of students and mentors who participated in a hackathon program. The study followed a cross-sectional descriptive survey design, collecting data from the participants through online questionnaires. The data were analyzed and presented using thematic analysis and narrative techniques.

Findings provide preliminary evidence for narrowing the gap between theory and practice through a hackathon internship blended with a mentorship program. Assessment of this program provides evidence for developing solutions toward ensuring the availability of essential medicine in LMICs during a pandemic such as COVID-19 by students. The profiled solutions demonstrate a broader perspective of innovative solutions of university students, mentors and potential opportunities for a triple helix approach to innovation for health supply chain system strengthening.

This original study provides evidence for advancing contribution to developing innovative solutions through partnerships between investors, universities and industry practitioners interested in mentoring students in the health-care supply chain during COVID-19 in LMICs. Specifically, contingency factors that affect the implementation of innovative programs during and beyond global pandemics such as COVID-19 by students’ innovators are identified, and implications for policy action are discussed based on the praxis of sensemaking.

This study examines a novel approach that combines internship, mentorship and hackathon projects for logistics and supply chain students in LMICs. The approach aims to bridge the gap between theory and practice and to create innovative solutions for essential medicines during and after COVID-19. The study urges more resources for supporting such programs, as they benefit both academia and industry. The study also argues that hackathon internship programs can help the logistics and supply chain industry adapt to the post-pandemic era. The study offers insights for investors, universities and practitioners in the health-care industry.

This study shows how to develop innovative solutions for the health-care supply chain during COVID-19 in an LMIC through partnerships between investors, universities and industry practitioners who mentor students. The study identifies the contingency factors that influence the success of such programs during and beyond global pandemics such as COVID-19 and discusses the policy implications based on the sensemaking praxis of the student innovators.

Mainland Tanzania has seen two decades of significant social policy reforms and transformations in its social and economic structures, whilst the country continues to grapple with persisting gender inequalities. This article examines Tanzania's social policy developments from a gender perspective. The authors analyse the level, reach and quality of social policy delivery to working-age women across the areas of health policy, social protection and employment policy during 2000–2021.

The article draws on qualitative research deploying the scoping review method. The data consist of diverse secondary materials, including academic publications, government policy documents, relevant statistics and other types of “grey” literature.

Tanzania has made significant advancements in the legal frameworks around welfare provision and has instituted increasingly gender-responsive government policy plans. The health and social protection sectors, in particular, have witnessed the introduction of large-scale measures expanding social policy implementation. However, social policy delivery remains two-tiered, with differences in provisions for women in the formal and informal sectors.

Social policy delivery and implementation have increased and diversified in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) during the new millennium, with a growing integration of gender-specific policy objectives. However, limited social policy scholarship has focused on the gendered effects of broader social policy models in SSA. The article remedies the concomitant knowledge gaps by examining various social policies and their impacts on working-age women in Mainland Tanzania. The authors also engage with the theoretical welfare regime literature and present an analytical framework for gender-sensitive assessment of emerging social policy models in the Global South.

The purpose of this study is to examine the state of research into adoption of machine learning systems within the health sector, to identify themes that have been studied and observe the important gaps in the literature that can inform a research agenda going forward.

A systematic literature strategy was utilized to identify and analyze scientific papers between 2012 and 2022. A total of 28 articles were identified and reviewed.

The outcomes reveal that while advances in machine learning have the potential to improve service access and delivery, there have been sporadic growth of literature in this area which is perhaps surprising given the immense potential of machine learning within the health sector. The findings further reveal that themes such as recordkeeping, drugs development and streamlining of treatment have primarily been focused on by the majority of authors in this area.

The search was limited to journal articles published in English, resulting in the exclusion of studies disseminated through alternative channels, such as conferences, and those published in languages other than English. Considering that scholars in developing nations may encounter less difficulty in disseminating their work through alternative channels and that numerous emerging nations employ languages other than English, it is plausible that certain research has been overlooked in the present investigation.

This review provides insights into future research avenues for theory, content and context on adoption of machine learning within the health sector.

In this paper, the authors examine the strategies used to reduce labour costs in three public hospitals in South Africa, which were effective and why. In the democratic era, after the revelations of large-scale corruption, the authors ask whether their case studies provide lessons for how public service institutions might re-make themselves, under circumstances of austerity.

A comparative qualitative case study approach, collecting data using a combination of interviews with managers, focus group discussions and interviews with shop stewards and staff was used.

Management in two hospitals relied on their financial power, divisions between unions and employees' loyalty. They lacked the insight to manage different actors, and their efforts to outsource services and draw on the Extended Public Works Program failed. They failed to support staff when working beyond their scope of practice, reducing employees' willingness to take on extra responsibilities. In the remaining hospital, while previous management had been removed due to protests by the unions, the new CEO provided stability and union–management relations were collaborative. Her legitimate power enabled unions and management to agree on appropriate cost cutting strategies.

Finding an appropriate balance between the new reality of reduced financial resources and the needs of staff and patients, requires competent unions and management, transparency and trust to develop legitimate power; managing in an authoritarian manner, without legitimate power, reduces organisational capacity. Ensuring a fair and orderly process to replace ineffective management is key, while South Africa grows cohorts of competent managers and builds managerial experience.

This paper analyses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Myanmar’s tourism industry, identifying challenges and innovations, and predicting future trends to foster a resilient and sustainable sector.

The study uses a comprehensive analysis of tourism trends, government and private sector responses and changes in tourist behaviour, employing data, case studies and policy reviews.

The pandemic significantly disrupted Myanmar’s tourism, causing economic losses and shifts towards sustainable, outdoor and cultural experiences. Effective strategies by the government and private sector are aiding recovery and suggesting a more diverse and resilient future.

The research is limited by the availability of data during the pandemic, highlighting the need for ongoing strategy adaptation.

The study recommends digitalization, health protocols, domestic tourism focus and sustainable practices for a robust post-pandemic industry.

The study emphasizes the pandemic’s social impact on tourism-dependent communities and the need for inclusive, sustainable tourism practices.

Itprovides unique insights into COVID-19’s multifaceted impact on Myanmar’s tourism, offering valuable information for future sector strategies.

Africa has been identified as an area where higher mortality happens due to un-accessibility to health care, drugs and other health facilities. Nigeria, as one of the African countries, is not excluded from such difficulties. This study aims to examine the determinants of efficient last-mile delivery at selected health facilities and the Kaduna State Health Supplies Management Agency (KADSHMA).

The study sourced data from KADSHMA and the health facilities’ staff, with a total of 261 observations used. Likewise, the respondents were picked from warehouses of each health facility and KADSHMA. The data was analysed using the partial least square structural equation modelling analysis to estimate the relationship among the variables of the study.

The study’s findings revealed that all five variables of the study (i.e. determinants) were significantly affecting the efficient last-mile delivery. Four constructs (delivery cost [DC], delivery time [DT], mode of delivery [MD] and facilities technology [FT]) have shown a positive and significant association with efficient last-mile delivery, whereas one variable (product mix [PM]) indicated a negative and significant association with efficient last-mile delivery. The study concludes that DC, DT, MD, FT and PM played significant roles in efficient last-mile delivery.

The study provides that specific means of transportation should always be on standby to transport health supplies. Time schedules should always be prepared and adhered to when transporting health supplies to the facilities, and each facility should network with robust technology to ease communication in terms of order and order planning. Additionally, facilities should try as much as possible to reduce the varieties of products when ordering health supplies, as it will increase the efficiency of the delivery.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first of its kind that considered these five variables (DC, DT, MD, FT and PM) with impact on the last-mile delivery in one model, especially in the Nigerian case. This is a great contribution to knowledge, more importantly, to the last-mile delivery of the health sector. The result confirmed the importance of these determinants (DC, DT, FT and PM) of last-mile delivery efficiency in saving lives.

A systematic investigation of postgraduate leadership programs for health and/or human services offered by Australian higher education institutions was undertaken.

Quantitative analysis identified the core characteristics of the programs. A thematic analysis of the course learning outcomes was conducted and six major themes of disciplinary leadership and management knowledge; research and analytical skills; professional practice; communication and collaboration; creativity and innovation; and system knowledge are shared in this study.

The authors conclude that Australian universities have taken an evidence-based approach to leadership education.

More work might need to be undertaken to ensure leadership theories are incorporated into learning outcomes.

This paper aims to explore whether the key drivers identified in digitalization policies are being prioritized by practitioners in health and social care and to what degree the goals of the policies are being enacted.

The investigation comprised two stages. First, the key drivers of digitalization in the national policies were identified. Second, a survey was disseminated to practitioners within health and social care, asking them to indicate their stance on each key driver (using Likert scales).

The findings of this paper are twofold. First, they demonstrate that practitioners more readily enact the key drivers centered around their everyday operations, such as improving services and care and increasing efficiency. Second, it shows that key drivers of a more rhetorical nature, such as “becoming the best,” do not yield benefits for practitioners.

This paper shows that for policies to have an effect in practice and to contribute to change, they should be rooted in key drivers centered around practitioners’ everyday operations, promoting specificity over abstraction.

While previous studies have involved policy analysis, few studies investigate the enactment of policies, how they are implemented and whether they contribute to changes in practice.