Thesis:

Factors influencing the logistics management practices on the supply chain performance of vaccines in public hospitals in Lamu county.

This study embraced descriptive design to investigate the influence of logistics management practices on the performance of supply chain of vaccines among health facilities in Lamu County. This study examined the link between practices of logistics management and supply chain performance of vaccines in Lamu County. The following research objectives guided the study: To find out the effect of cold chain technology on supply chain performance of vaccines in Lamu County; To determine what impact does inventory management has on supply chain performance of vaccines in Lamu County; To establish the effect of distribution system on supply chain performance of vaccines in Lamu County; and lastly, to find out the impact of technical capacity on supply chain performance of vaccines in Lamu County. Descriptive survey design was adopted and the population under study was all the 32 public health facilities and the units of analysis were the facilities managers (32), procurement officers (32) and the vaccine officers (32) totalling to 96 respondents. The research sampled all the public health facilities that dealt with vaccines in Lamu County and distributed a total of 96 questionnaires. Census was used to identify all the respondents. After completing the data collection, the researcher used Statistical Package for Social Sciences Version 25 (SPSS V.25) to analyse data which was presented using inferential and descriptive statistics for easier interpretation of findings. This was done through the use of frequency tables and central tendency of means and standard deviation for the purpose of aiding interpretation and understanding. The study discovered that logistics management practices have been embraced by healthcare centres in Lamu County to a greater extent with the cold chain technology and distribution systems being the most influential on supply chain performance of vaccines in Lamu County. Inventory management was the third most influential and technical capacity was the last variable. This was despite inventory management having the highest mean. The logistics management practices were recommended to be adopted to realize the benefits. The study further pointed to positive link between the independent and dependent variables and therefore it was recommended that the government should embrace LMP and the performance of supply chain of vaccines in Lamu County. The study further recommended that there is need to train staff responsible in the supply chain of vaccines and other drugs to conceptualize the benefits attached to the practices of logistics management.