Some hospitals have already taken carbon-cutting steps like installing on-site solar power, purchasing renewable energy, and improving energy efficiency in their buildings. But the vast majority of emissions in the sector — 80% — come from the medical supply chain.
Unfortunately, medical supply chains are rife with vulnerability through single points of failure. With the baby formula shortage, it's a shared monopoly. Four U.S. companies control about 90% of the market, so the shutdown of one Abbott Nutrition factory in Sturgis, Michigan, shocked the entire national market.
For millions of Americans, in places such as Baltimore, Maryland; Boston, Massachusetts; Richmond, Virginia; and Tulsa, Oklahoma; hospitals are closing their pediatric inpatient units and eliminating their capacity to care for local children.
In order to be more prepared for the next global health emergency, we must design supply chains that are built to cope with demand uncertainty and balance effectiveness with equity.
Doctors in the United States are prioritizing only the most critical patients and hospitals are rationing supplies of a crucial drug after a COVID lockdown in China temporarily closed a GE Healthcare factory that is a vital source for a key ingredient in medical imaging.
The markets for vaccines, tests and therapeutics are fragile; the emergence of a new disease or variant in one area of the world can upend demand and supply in another. In order to be more prepared for the next global health emergency, we must design supply chains that are built to cope with demand uncertainty and balance effectiveness with equity.