Issue: July / August 2022

Supply chains are increasingly complex, particularly within the pharmaceutical and healthcare supply chain. Incoming legislation around supply chain transparency, such as the German Supply Chain Act, and the growing interest in Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) has led to new expectations for companies to understand their suppliers and the ESG risks of their purchasing practices. These new expectations are known as responsible procurement and seek to build ESG risks and impacts into standard procurement processes. The goal of responsible procurement is to improve the ethical, environmental, and social performance of suppliers and ultimately mitigate any negative impacts found within the supply chain. Only through a collaborative and industry-wide approach can responsible procurement create positive impact at scale and through the continued engagement of procurement professionals and support for the wider supply chain.

The war in Ukraine has created a humanitarian crisis, with countless deaths and millions of people forced to flee their homes. The war has also had a huge impact on access to medicines. There have been reports that a children’s hospital was rapidly running out of essential drugs to treat children with cancer. The WHO also warned that medical oxygen supplies across the country are dangerously low. Patients with chronic conditions will struggle to gain access to the drugs they need and screening programs have also been forced to close. Despite assurances that Russian sanctions won’t include essential medicines, they will likely also make it hard for patients there to access the drugs they require. Then there are the supply chain issues to consider, particularly in neighbouring countries. How will war affect the ability to safely transport medicines? How will it impact the ability to adequately treat the millions of refugees from the war? All wars bring suffering and inevitably the vulnerable suffer most. As the first major war on European soil in decades, the situation in Ukraine is a stark reminder of the importance of finding collaborative and creative solutions to help patients in need. The article discusses the many challenges of war, looking back on previous wars and their impact on patients, and reports on the effects the Ukraine war is having on patients in the country and beyond. It also looks at how the industry might collaborate to try to mitigate the healthcare disaster in the area.