Tackling supply chain challenges for a country at war

As the World Health Organization (WHO) emphasizes on this year's World Health Day (7 April), conflicts like the war in Ukraine or the war in Israel and Gaza threaten the access to adequate and vital health care for millions of people. At Boehringer Ingelheim, we do everything we can to ensure that our patients have access to our life-transforming medicines – even in regions afflicted by conflict and crisis as a consequence of political instability.

Global supply chain management: prepared for any scenario

The delivery of medicines, i.e. the maintenance and expansion of the respective supply chains, is a complex matter. Jens Schader, who is responsible for this task at Boehringer on a global level, knows this from many years of experience. "Transporting medicines from production sites to the people who need them doesn't happen in a vacuum. The numerous framework conditions are constantly changing, such as the volume of transport, cooperation with external partners or the security situation in the countries and on the high seas." 

The Red Sea is a perfect example: While being one of the world's most important trade routes, cargo ships passing through are currently being threatened and attacked by Houthi rebels. "We have reacted to this situation and adapted our transport routes. Our medicines are now transported from Europe to Asia and vice versa, bypassing the Cape of Good Hope. This takes much longer, but security of supply comes first."

Colleagues from Kyiv and Vienna take up the challenge

The colleagues in Ukraine, faced with similar challenges, have reacted with speed and agility. Before the war, Boehringer operated two warehouses in Kyiv where human and veterinary medicines were stored. These made it possible to build up a stock that matched the current and projected needs of Ukrainian patients, as well as for pets and livestock. Wholesalers obtained the medicines from there, which they then supplied to pharmacies and hospitals as needed. But, with the start of the war, our warehouses were in danger being located a mere 40 kilometers away from the front. There was a threat of the destruction of medicines that were so important for the patients.

 "After the initial shock, we immediately set about changing the supply chains," Tetiana says. They closed the warehouses in this difficult situation after they had succeeded in passing on all remaining stocks to the wholesalers within a short period of time – without, for example, breaking the cold chain, which is crucial for many medicines.

But this success story was not the end of Tetiana’s and her colleagues' commitment to Ukrainian patients, not at all. "Since we closed our warehouses in Kyiv, we have been supplying the wholesalers directly with trucks departing from Vienna," explains Vadims Belovs, who is responsible for the supply chain management at Boehringer in numerous countries, including Eastern European ones like Ukraine. He and his team constantly align with Tetiana and coordinates the transport across the border with her. The destination of the trucks is the relatively safe west of the country, where the wholesalers wait for the freight forwarders arriving from Vienna. Vadims feels certain that this would not work without the trusting relationships with our partners, with the wholesalers and the freight forwarders. It is the key to the success of this major change in our Ukrainian supply chain management.

Supplying patients wherever possible

With this, the supply of our patients in Ukraine is largely ensured. It becomes more difficult in the immediate proximity of active hostilities, as is currently the case in the Gaza Strip. Vadims is closely monitoring the situation in the Middle East, as he is also responsible for supplying medicines to Israel and the Palestinian territories. Supplying Gaza, whether with food or medicines, is unfortunately hardly possible at the moment. "But already shortly after Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7, we were able to resume supplying medicines to Israel and the West Bank with the help of our partners."

Where there’s a will, there’s usually a way in favor of patients all around the world who depend on innovative medicines like ours. Without the work of our employees and the solid partnerships we have across the supply chain, this would simply not be possible, though – especially not for persons in countries at war like Ukraine.

How do we supply patients in Ukraine? Find out in this slideshow:

Copyright of the fourth slideshow image: Adobe Stock - Viewfinder