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This study aims to develop a hierarchical model that uncovers the relationships between challenges confronting Africa's organ transplant supply chain systems.

Eleven challenges (variables) were identified after a comprehensive review of the existing literature. The contextual interactions among these variables were analysed from the perspectives of health-care stakeholders in two sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries (Nigeria and Uganda), using Delphi-interpretive structural modelling-cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to classification (MICMAC) techniques.

The findings reveal that weak regulatory frameworks, insufficient information systems and a lack of necessary skills make it challenging for critical actors to perform the tasks effectively. The interaction effects of these challenges weaken organ supply chains and make it less efficient, giving rise to negative externalities such as black markets for donated organs and organ tourism/trafficking.

This paper establishes a solid foundation for a critical topic that could significantly impact human health and life once the government or non-profit ecosystem matures. The MICMAC analysis in this paper provides a methodological approach for future studies wishing to further develop the organ supply chain structural models.

The study provides valuable insights for experts and policymakers on where to prioritise efforts in designing interventions to strengthen organ transplantation supply chains in developing countries.

This study is one of the first to empirically examine the challenges of organ transplant supply chains from an SSA perspective, including theoretically grounded explanations from data collected in two developing countries.

Environmental sustainability in health care is an important issue due to the limited available healthcare resources and increase in demand. For instance, organ recycling and transplantation may reduce the increasing pressure on healthcare resources. The purpose of this paper is to set out to identify and interrelate the inhibitors that significantly influence the recycling of human organs and their implications to the environment in developing economies such as India.

The study uses Delphi–ISM–regression, a three-step method, to investigate the possible reasons for the poor supply chain efficiency of organ recycling and to explore the consequence of excessive use of healthcare resources on the environment. The Delphi technique facilitates the identification, synthesis, and prioritization of the inhibitors. Then, using focused group discussion, the interpretive structure modeling (ISM) presents the interaction among the inhibitors into a hierarchy. Further, on the basis of 257 valid responses received on the structured survey instrument, the regression model examines the influence of identified constructs on one of the identified root causes.

The ISM presents the hierarchy-based model that depicts high driving power and low dependence inhibitors leading to reduced organ recycling rate. “Negative Intentions of family members” toward organ donation t “Willingness to discuss with family” and “Perceived Behavioral Control” emerged as the significant factors influencing organ recycling rate, which adversely impact the environment sustainability.

The patients on the organ waiting list put pressure on the availability of medical resources and, ultimately, on the environment through the consumption of different drugs and disposable of medical wastes. The study suggests policymakers and hospitals improve on the existing policies for an efficient supply chain of human organ recycling. The Indian situation echoes the situation in most of the emerging economies, and similar solutions can apply there too.

Tissue engineering (TE) offers treatments for chronic, life threatening, degenerative illnesses and possibilities for restoring cellular or organ functions that have been lost due to injuries or hereditary conditions. However, a prerequisite for the use of TE products as part of future therapies is the development of strategies for safe and efficient supply chain management and versatile services spanning from product development to a follow‐up period of possibly decades. The present study aims to explore the future needs for services and extended supply chains for safe delivery of health care, procurement, distribution and long‐term follow‐up of TE products and therapies.

Studies in operational disciplines and coordination systems for different types of supply chains and service networks are used to formulate a framework for developing services throughout product lifecycle. Case examples of TE products are presented to demonstrate complexity, microbial risks, services and long‐term follow‐up. The role of logistics and the necessary services are identified for products classified into experimental, therapy and standard products.

The paper finds that, through the stages, the importance of logistics increases from an enabler to becoming a strategic tool, emphasizing logistics requirements in establishing a viable TE supply chain. New dimensions to existing service operations frameworks are needed where proactive tissue sourcing, long follow‐up periods, short shelf life and biological risks call for enforcing flexible services with tissue banks, detailed tracing, authorization and regulation.

The paper presents the discovery of the logistics services and service institutions that will become imperatives for the future success of TE products and therapies.

Organ donation and transplantation services represent a microcosm of modern healthcare organisations. They are complex adaptive systems. They face perpetual problems of matching supply and demand. They operate under fierce time and resource constraints. And yet they have received relatively little attention from a systems perspective. The purpose of this paper is to consider some of the fundamental issues in evaluating, improving and policy reform in such complex systems.

The paper advocates an approach based on programme theory evaluation.

The paper explains how the death to donation to transplantation process depends on the accumulation of series of embedded, institutional sub-processes. Evaluators need to be concerned with this whole system rather than with its discrete parts or sectors. Policy makers may expect disappointment if they seek to improve donation rates by applying nudges or administrative reforms at a single point in the implementation chain.

These services represent concentrated, perfect storms of complexity and the paper offers guidance to practitioners with bio-medical backgrounds on how such services might be evaluated and improved. For the methodological audience the paper caters for the burgeoning interest in programme theory evaluation while illustrating the design phase of this research strategy.

The research analyzes good practices in health care “management experimentation models,” which fall within the broader range of the integrative public–private partnerships (PPPs). Introduced by the Italian National Healthcare System in 1991, the “management experimentation models” are based on a public governance system mixed with a private management approach, a patient-centric orientation, a shared financial risk, and payment mechanisms correlated with clinical outcomes, quality, and cost-savings. This model makes public hospitals more competitive and efficient without affecting the principles of universal coverage, solidarity, and equity of access, but requires higher financial responsibility for managers and more flexibility in operations.

In Italy the experience of such experimental models is limited but successful. The study adopts the case study methodology and refers to the international collaboration started in 1997 between two Italian hospitals and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC – Pennsylvania, USA) in the field of organ transplants and biomedical advanced therapies.

The research allows identifying what constitutes good management practices and factors associated with higher clinical performance. Thus, it allows to understand whether and how the management experimentation model can be implemented on a broader basis, both nationwide and internationally. However, the implementation of integrative PPPs requires strategic, cultural, and managerial changes in the way in which a hospital operates; these transformations are not always sustainable.

The recognition of ISMETT’s good management practices is useful for competitive benchmarking among hospitals specialized in organ transplants and for its insights on the strategies concerning the governance reorganization in the hospital setting. Findings can be used in the future for analyzing the cross-country differences in productivity among well-managed public hospitals.

This paper aims to explore the relationship between human trafficking brokers and trafficking victims by using examples from both the international labour and human organ trafficking industries. It proposes an evolution in the brokerage process from geographic to online networks and how this alters the nature of the relationships between parties. The study aims to expand the understanding of contemporary trafficking brokerage networks in developing areas.

The paper opted for an ethnographic study which involved living among trafficking victims in 21 developing countries during the period of 2008-2015; 17 cases are presented as exemplars of the trafficking industry environment, told from the perspective of both trafficking victims and the brokers who have profited from them. The data were complemented by commentary, which developed common themes across both labour and human organ trafficking.

The paper provides insights about how change in the brokerage process is brought about by the shift from geographic to online networks. It suggests that trafficking operations have learned how to use online social media and the dark Web. Moreover, it illustrates the impact of these networks on the power imbalance in human trafficking and the experience of its victims.

The study is limited to labour and human organ trafficking in developing nations, but the concepts may have wider implications in other forms of human trafficking.

The paper includes implications for the development of a framework to understand the impact of online trafficking networks.

This paper fulfils an identified need to study how human trafficking networks are evolving in the digital age.

This study aims to design a proper supply chain network for the vaccine industry in Iran, which considers several features such as uncertainties in demands and cost, perishability of vaccines, wastages in storage, limited capacity and different priorities for demands.

This study presents a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model and using a robust counterpart approach for coping with uncertainties of model.

The presented robust model in comparison with the deterministic model has a better performance and is more reliable for network design of vaccine supply chain.

This study considers uncertainty in the network design of vaccine supply chain for the first time in the vaccine context It presents an MILP model where strategic decisions for each echelon and tactical decisions among different echelons of supply chain are determined. Further, it models the difference between high- and low-priority demands for vaccine.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

The purpose of the paper is to investigate the feasibility of using radio frequency identification (RFID) total asset visibility technologies for post‐consumer monitoring and ordering of medical supplies.

A laboratory experiment in a consumer context was designed. This involved the application of RFID tag technology for glucose monitoring and supply management.

It was found that embedded RFID monitoring of blood glucose levels can be used to effectively monitor and help manage patient care. An integrated system of monitoring and management with an effective medical supply chain information system is presented.

The laboratory study provides initial validation of the merits of the approach. Extensive human field‐testing would still be required prior to any strong inference about the viability of the technology in this application.

The findings provide a directly relevant system design template for home managed patient care settings where self‐administered medication protocols are required. The findings may also be extended into consumable consumer products like food and beverages where the management of home‐based supplies are a critical component of supply chain effectiveness and consumer satisfaction.

The results extend the use of RFID as a total asset visibility tool for enterprise resource planning in a supply chain. Post‐consumer consumption monitoring, tracking, and automated re‐ordering have not been extensively addressed in the literature.

Customers today expect businesses to cater to their individual needs by tailoring the products they purchase to their own preferences. The term “Industry 5.0” refers to a new wave of manufacturing that aims to meet each customer's unique demands. Even while Industry 4.0 allowed for mass customization, that wasn't good enough before, customers today demand individualized products at scale, and Industry 5.0 is driving the transition from mass customization to mass personalization to meet these demands. It caters to the individual needs of each consumer by meeting their demands. More specialized components for use in medicine are made possible by the widespread customization made possible by Industry 5.0. These individualized parts are included into the medical care of the patient to meet their specific needs and preferences. In the current medical revolution, an enabling technology of Industry 5.0 can produce medical implants, artificial organs, bodily fluids, and transplants with pinpoint accuracy. With the advent of AI-enabled sensors, we now live in a world where data can be swiftly analyzed. Machines may be programmed to make complex choices on the fly. In the medical field, these innovations allow for exact measurement and monitoring of human body variables according to the individual's needs. They aid in monitoring the body's response to training for peak performance. It allows for the digital dissemination of accurate healthcare data networks. In order to collect and exchange relevant patient data, every equipment is online.