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A Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem With Synchronized Pick-Ups and Drop-Offs: The Case of Medication Delivery and Supervision in the DR Congo | IEEE Journals & Magazine | IEEE Xplore

A Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem With Synchronized Pick-Ups and Drop-Offs: The Case of Medication Delivery and Supervision in the DR Congo


Abstract:

In postemergency contexts such as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), one of the crucial challenges that rural hospitals face is maintaining a pharmacy with esse...Show More

Abstract:

In postemergency contexts such as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), one of the crucial challenges that rural hospitals face is maintaining a pharmacy with essential medications and supplies. There is a negative humanitarian impact when hospitals do not have medications for treatable diseases; hospitals incur financial losses when too much medication is ordered and expires. Moreover, the cost of transporting medications and providing on-site supervision to remote hospitals is an extremely expensive endeavor. Sometimes, the transportation costs can exceed the cost of the medications. Using as a case study, the province of Bandundu, in the DR Congo, we attempt to determine the feasibility (in terms of problem complexity and potential savings) of a synchronized routing problem for medication delivery and on-site supervision visits. We propose a capacitated vehicle routing problem formulation handling several novel requirements: activity-wise synchronization, precedence, and two activity frequencies. We implement a new heuristic procedure with a geospatially enabled database to solve the problem. Administrators can use a web-based tool to view the results as interactive maps. Preliminary results suggest that a synchronized solution allows rural hospitals to increase accessibility to medical services to rural populations by increasing delivery frequencies from 4 months to 1 month.
Published in: IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management ( Volume: 64, Issue: 3, August 2017)
Page(s): 327 - 336
Date of Publication: 21 March 2017

ISSN Information:


I. Introduction

Humanitarian logistics has become an important field. With the population growing in developing countries and the substantial number of reported natural disasters occurring worldwide [1], it is essential to address humanitarian logistics problems. Historically, operations researchers have given more attention to disaster contexts involving humanitarian operations [2]; however, less urgent logistics problems in development phases following disasters must also be considered in order to support practitioners in their efforts to improve health conditions over the long term.

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References

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