A COMPUTER-BASED ORDERING SYSTEM FOR SUPPLIES IN NATIONAL TUBERCULOSIS PROGRAMS

Setting: National tuberculosis programs in need of budgeting and plann ing for supplies. Objective: To assist national managers to rationally and rapidly determine needs in supplies and their costs for the natio nal tuberculosis program. Methods: A spreadsheet has been developed to calculate needs in supplies for tuberculosis control based on the num ber of nationally notified cases. The spreadsheet has 3 interdependent basic components that need to be modified. The first component requir es an update of exchange rates of currencies from countries which are major suppliers for program materials, The second component contains a list of commonly used treatment regimens in national programs and the ir cost, The number of reported tuberculosis cases for the last comple te reporting half-year on then corresponding regimens needs to be prov ided. The third component lists supplies for diagnosis and treatment a nd the costs of these to the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (IUATLD). The information required here includes (aft er updating the country-specific list of suppliers and the cost of the ir material) the current stock in supplies and editing the resulting s uggestion for orders according to needs and convenience of unit size. Results: The spreadsheet suggests the ordering size of supplies for co nsumption and reserve. Based on input provided by the user, it will tu rn out estimates of the cost of the order for supplies in diagnosis an d treatment. Conclusions: Computers are coming increasingly into use a t the national level of many tuberculosis programs in low income count ries, This spreadsheet, available from the IUATLD, is designed to prov ide national managers with the background on how to calculate needs fo r supplies and to provide them with a simple tool to assess these need s and their costs rapidly.