Factors Affecting the Availability of Essential Health Commodities in Tanzania with a Special Focus on the Tracer Commodities

Background: Access to essential health commodities is fundamental to healthcare system efficacy. These commodities are vital in delivering health services and form integral elements within the World Health Organization's strengthening framework, encompassing the six foundational building blocks. Regrettably, there has been a global increase in shortages and stockouts of essential health commodities in recent years. Objective: The study aimed to identify factors influencing the availability of essential health commodities throughout all levels of the supply chain in Tanzania. Methods: A cross-sectional convergent parallel mixed method study that employed both qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques was conducted. Quantitative data were analyzed using STATA version 16, while qualitative data were thematically analyzed. Results: Factors contributing to stockouts of essential commodities at the national level included increased demand, delayed shipments from donors, decreased funding commitments, delayed disbursement of funds, global shortages, inadequate governance, debt within the Medical Stores Department, donor dependency for vertical programme commodities, and long lead times by Medical Stores Department’s suppliers. At the regional and district levels, such factors include a shortage of human resources, lack of electronic medical records, limited interoperability of information systems, poor quality of logistics data, inadequate use of data for decision-making, and poor inventory management. At the healthcare facility level, factors included; an overwhelming number of exempted clients, which reduces facility revenues. Conclusion: More efforts are still needed to address both the upstream and downstream challenges required to ensure sustainable access and availability of essential health commodities at service delivery points, as a pathway for improving health sector performance.