Akol gripped her husband’s bicycle as they bumped along the rugged, red-dirt roads of rural Uganda for two hours. Heavy with her second child and experiencing early labor pains, her mind raced with a single, terrifying thought: will they have the medicine this time? During her last pregnancy, Akol had arrived at the health facility bleeding, only to find the shelves bare. She barely survived.
Many women in Uganda similarly travel long distances to reach health facilities and access life-saving Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) products. The journey can be tiresome, and the disappointment inevitable, if the facility does not have the medication in stock. Through recent investments in supply chain strengthening, UNFPA and its partners have made significant progress in reducing stockouts, ensuring that women like Akol who make that journey find the supplies they need available.
“We have already made superb progress on avoiding stockouts. We will continue to work to build an even better system, avoiding ‘leakage’ and ensuring every person who needs a critical drug can get it, when and where they need it", said Kristine Blokhus, UNFPA Representative in Uganda.
Uganda has a unique and advanced setup for managing health supplies, working with both public and private not-for-profit health facilities: the National Medical Stores (NMS) and the Joint Medical Stores (JMS). Both work in close partnership with UNFPA and its Supply Chain Management Unit.
“A huge part of our work at UNFPA is getting essential medications and supplies such as maternal health drugs, contraceptives, hospital equipment - from point A to B”, said Kristine.
The final destination is often a rural health facility and women may not return there again if the supplies they need are not available. The supply chain operations remain invisible to many people, but the impact of this work can mean the difference between life and death for women.
Uganda's demographic profile makes this work more critical. With 73% of the population under the age of 30, ensuring access to reproductive health commodities is both a health imperative and a driver of national economic productivity.
The UNFPA partnership with NMS and JMS is anchored in Uganda's broader national development ambitions, with UNFPA's current country programme designed to expand integrated SRHR services. In 2026, UNFPA contributed significant funding to strengthen both supply chains: $40,000 to NMS for warehouse improvements and district-level shipment tracking, and over $90,000 to JMS to improve inventory management across private not-for-profit facilities.
This funding ensures that the "last mile" of delivery is never a dead end. When Akol finally arrived at the rural health facility, exhausted and in pain, she was met by prepared hands. The oxytocin needed to prevent postpartum hemorrhage was in stock, tracked perfectly from a high-tech warehouse straight to her bedside. This time, there were no empty shelves but the cry of a healthy newborn, and a mother who knew she would make it home.
The UNFPA Supply Chain works tirelessly to ensure that supplies are available through close collaboration with health facilities. Behind every supply that reaches a rural health facility is a chain of partnerships, investments, and coordination that most people never see. For UNFPA's Supply Chain Management Unit, this invisible work is the mission: ensuring that when a woman like Akol arrives at a health facility, no matter how remote, the health supplies she needs are in stock.
