In Iraq, a necessity has been identified to strengthen the immunization supply chain to support the country in achieving its goal for ensuring that vaccines are in the right place, condition, and quantities, and that they are given at the right time and cost.

The Iraq Ministry of Health (MoH), together with UNICEF and GHD| EMPHNET, are collaborating to achieve this goal. Within this collaboration, the MoH, UNICEF, and GHD| EMPHNET, are conducting a Cold-Chain Equipment Inventory Assessment (CCEIA) throughout the country.

The assessment will be performed using a web-based, mobile data collection tool, Survey for Data. Using this tool, full data on health facilities and the available cold chain equipment can be gathered and saved. This allows for the availability of information and its use, and in turn it will ensure that vaccines are widely available and that they remain safe and effective through the entire supply chain, particularly in remote areas.

Two training workshops were conducted on the management and the use of this tool for the Cold-Chain Equipment Inventory Assessment. Conducted in Baghdad from October 25 to 26, the first workshop targeted the MoH IT professionals who will be the tool’s administrators.

The second workshop was conducted from October 29 until November 2, 2017. Its purpose was to train the MoH cold chain supervisors and specialists representing all provinces in Iraq. The supervisors will be responsible for using this tool and for training data collectors on its use at a later stage. Therefore, training participants sat through an orientation session about the tool and its questionnaire which provides details about two components: the health facilities, and the cold chain equipment.

As part of this training, the participants were also divided into four groups and were tasked with testing the tool in the field. Following the field test, they came back with feedback, according to which, the tool’s questionnaire was customized to better fit national needs.

Following this training, the cold chain supervisors will train 143 data collectors from provinces across Iraq. This training will focus on the use of Survey for Data. With support from IT specialists at the Ministry, the cold chain supervisors will also oversee the work of the data collectors as they gather data from all health facilities in Iraq. The gathered data will be used for analysis and for the purpose of informing decision making.

This activity is a continuation of a collaboration between the Ministry, UNICEF, and GHD| EMPHNET in strengthening supply chain management. At an earlier stage of this partnership, GHD| EMPHNET introduced the World Health Organization’s (WHO) web-based vaccination supplies stock management (w-VSSM) system to involved parties at the Ministry. Two training workshops were conducted by GHD| EMPHNET and UNICEF targeting both administrators and users of the software in late August 2017. In the form of an on-the-job training, the workshops focused on guiding both administrators and users on setting and/or configuring the data based at their respective levels.