Assessing supply chains for HIV / AIDS commodities.

This paper serves as a technical resource for assessing supply chain management systems for HIV/AIDS programs in the context of system design implementation and monitoring and evaluation. While many tools and indicators for the various types of assessments will remain relatively standardized across commodity groups including forecasting and monitoring and evaluation for the purposes of system design a number of key differences exist for HIV/AIDS commodities notably in the types of assessments the special considerations during the process and the frequency and follow up of assessments. This paper serves as a guide for advisors and in-country partners to understand the various types of assessments that are undertaken to measure or monitor system performance the purpose behind the different assessments and the tools that are appropriate and valuable to use in the different circumstances. (authors)