considered well-trained employees or personnel, reliable transportation,
reliable storage equipment, and efficient management methods (CDC, 2021; Ogboghodo et al., 2017; Rogers et al., ab. The above implies that a cold chain practice shall and cannot be termed as efficient if one of these components is missing or inadequate. One must have well-trained workers and reliable storage and temperature monitoring equipment fora cold chain’s pharmaceutical inventory to be successful (Feyisa et al., 2021). Ojo et al. (2019) indicated that efficient management of a cold chain delivery constitutes the essential backbone of successful national vaccination or immunization programmes.
Similarly, according to Joshi et al. (2009), the key to avoiding avoidable losses and protecting the bottom line is efficient cold chain practice. In the health sector, storing vaccines outside the required temperature range, improperly monitoring temperatures
to maintain vaccines safely, using improper storage containers or wrong locations inside a refrigerator, equipment failure, and inadequately training personnel constitute vaccine cold chain violations (CDC,
2009a).
In addition, Feyisa et al. (2021) identified the challenge of nonadherence to good storage practices, shortage of service providers at some public health facilities and poor storage conditions of vaccines on transit as critical issues affecting cold chain management.
From the above realities, the four components of an efficient cold chain practice or management are analysed below to indicate their roles in ensuring that a cold chain delivery system is efficient and effective.
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