As a small business primarily supporting USAID, we are leveraging data and technology to deliver outsized development results, improve our own systems and processes, and drive social change. Nowhere is this more critical than in our support of the USAID Global Health Supply Chain-Procurement and Supply Management (GHSC-PSM) project, which delivers life-saving health commodities around the world. For GHSC-PSM, Panagora harnesses the power of data so that key stakeholders can increase efficiencies and cost savings for contraceptives and other health supplies, helping millions of people get access to critical health commodities.

This strategy for applying data and technology to our development activities is captured in our support to USAID’s Contraceptive Procurement Planning and Monitoring (PPMR) database and report, integrated into GHSC-PSM. The PPMR data tool was designed to improve and sustain a consistent supply of reproductive health commodities where they are needed most. It is a prime example of how data can foster transformative social change when end-users–in this case government officials and clinic procurement staff–are involved in its design, analysis, and communications. By involving end-users since its outset, the PPMR tool has improved contraceptive access for more than 1 billion people worldwide.

PPMR is designed to increase collaboration and communication between stakeholders, like countries and donors, to avoid stockouts and related health crises. As a result, people’s access to contraceptives when they need them has substantially increased, putting women and men in charge of their sexual and reproductive health. Additionally, Panagora understands the value of ensuring that users receive any data results and findings for validation and future use. In the PPMR example, monthly reports are communicated to people who order and ensure adequate contraceptive supplies. Consequently, participating countries are better targeting resources and reducing waste from overstocks and expiries.

More than 65 global and national programs now use PPMR data and analyses to help ensure citizen access to contraceptives. Globally, PPMR is also helping donors like USAID, the Global Fund, and UNFPA to better coordinate their efforts to strengthen both the global contraceptive supply chain as well as the capacity of national, regional, and local health systems to manage and strategically leverage their supply chains. At Panagora, we prize harnessing data and technology in pragmatic ways that better people’s lives and make our world a better place for good.