Before COVID-19, many countries were making progress towards universal health coverage. Improvements in the coverage of essential health services were recorded in all income groups and across different types of services, despite persistent inequalities.
As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic accelerates, global health care systems have become overwhelmed with potentially infectious patients seeking testing and care. Preventing spread of infection to and from health care workers (HCWs) and patients relies on effective use of personal protective equipment (PPE)—gloves, face masks, air-purifying respirators, goggles, face shields, respirators, and gowns. A critical shortage of all of these is projected to develop or has already developed in areas of high demand. PPE, formerly ubiquitous and disposable in the hospital environment, is now a scarce and precious commodity in many locations when it is needed most to care for highly infectious patients. An increase in PPE supply in response to this new demand will require a large increase in PPE manufacturing, a process that will take time many health care systems do not have, given the rapid increase in ill COVID-19 patients. This increased demand has brought about a high dependency on global markets bringing about the issue of global sourcing.
Global sourcing which is the practice of sourcing from the global market for goods and services across geopolitical boundaries often aims to exploit global efficiencies in the delivery of a product or service. Global sourcing is a sourcing strategy with the intention of taking advantage from global efficiencies in the purchasing (O'Connell, 2005); initially define as a defensive tactic toward lower prices of foreign products. In other words, global sourcing can be defined as strategic sourcing in today's global setting (O'Connell, 2005) where international supply management plays a key role in companies’ overall competitiveness.
One of the global strategies as adopted by the Health care facility was Low cost country sourcing. Over the last several years, China has led the world in manufacturing production and value. Labor costs are significantly lower in China, yet production quality is extremely high which made it the first point of consideration for the outsourcing of PPE’s to help combat the tramission of Covid 19. In LCCS, the company locates materials in countries with lower labor and production costs which lead to cutting operational expenses. The key principle behind LCCS is to achieve sourcing efficiencies by identification and utilization of the cost arbitrage among different geographies (Rae, 2005).
The second Global strategy adopted was Tapping skills and resources that are not available in the home nation and also sourcing from a country where it is easier to transport the vaccine with comfort and ease. The AstraZeneca vaccine which was produced mainly in the US was outsourced to Ghana because of the inability of the country to produce its own vaccine.
The world has become a global village with companies investing in different nations to remain afloat and competitive. In the process of offshoring- outsourcing, companies and nations have become interdependent in their efforts to bridge the supply chain network. Global Sourcing is a procurement strategy used by businesses wherein goods and services are sourced from the global market to obtain the highest levels of efficiency possible. The goal of Global Sourcing is to lower production costs while maintaining the exacting quality standards required for products and services. Another key consideration is to confirm that the value pricing, quality, and deliverability is sustainable for the long-term.
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