A Message to our Pharmacies and Pharmacists

16th July 2020

Dear Colleagues

Nigeria
This week we provide updates on Shelf Life service improvements - including the roll out of Partner Balance Tracking in Lagos last week, COVID-19 highlights, and hiring news for upcoming territories.

As we continue on the phased reopening of the economy with the resumption of  domestic flights last week..we encourage  adherence to guidelines on social distancing, respiratory hygiene, frequent hand washing and face masks as a precaution to super spreading within our communities, as we observe global incidences of COVID19 surges in US states where the lockdown restrictions have been lifted with governments rescinding or considering a reversal.

COVID-19 Situation Update
As at 12 July 2020, the NCDC announced 571 new cases of COVID19 confirmed in Nigeria reported from 20 states including- Lagos (152), FCT (38), and Rivers (11) bringing the total to 32,558 cases. Read complete report https://covid19.ncdc.gov.ng/

In Shelf Life service related news.

Operations We continue to adapt and adjust our internal processes to cushion the effects of supply disruptions and price fluctuations to protect your business. Here’s how/what we are doing 
1. Eligible clients are been moved to 2 weeks supply plan 
2. Extending our planning and forecast cycle
3. Partner Balance Tracking Changes to new client subscription process and the tracking of existing client prices along with Shelf Life deliveries until all of  existing stock has been sold has been launched in Lagos - this will help us get improved insights about sales and consumption patterns to enable accurately plan your weekly allocations. Our team will be available to respond to any inquiries you may have about this change.

New Markets- We are currently hiring  for territory leads and fulfilment partners to join our team! If this sounds interesting to you or someone you know would be a fit, great! Please visit our careers page https://www.shelflife.co/careers and feel free to share information widely within your network  

Kenya
In the past couple of days in Kenya the Government eased some of the earlier restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the Covid-19 disease. Some of the new directives include:
1. Lockdown in Nairobi, Mombasa and Mandera was lifted on 7th July for the next twenty-one (21) days and nationwide curfew  (9.00PM to 4.00AM) to continue for thirty (30) more days.
2. Inter-County travel by road, rail and air resumed however travel to destinations out of the Country still on hold until 1st of August 2020.
3. Religious gatherings are restricted to not more than one hundred people per service and persons under the age of thirteen (13) and above fifty-eight (58) restricted from attending.
4. Restaurants and other eateries to continue with take-away services only.

As at 12th July 2020, the case distribution was as follows:
Two hundred and seventy-eight (278) new confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported in the last 24 hours bringing the total number of confirmed cases in Kenya to 9,726 cases.
Counties reporting new cases are Nairobi (162), Kajiado (40), Kiambu(28), Machakos (22), Nakuru (16), Mombasa (2), Siaya(2), Nyamira (1), Homa Bay (1), Uasin Gichu (1), Murangá(1), Meru(1), Nyandarua (1).
Three (3) deaths have been reported over the last 24 hours. The total number of deaths reported since the beginning of the outbreak is 184, case fatality rate (CFR) is 1.9 percent.
For more on this please  visit http://www.health.go.ke/covid-19/ and keep up to date with the latest information and guidelines.

In Shelf Life service other related news:
Decoupling of Counts from Deliveries: Last week we fully rolled out the decoupling counts from deliveries initiative. This means all clients within the network are now on bi-weekly scheduled deliveries. Top-up deliveries are still available as usual for products that you run out of before the next scheduled delivery. The timeline for this remains within twenty-four (24) hours of making a request (this service is free).

Shelf Life Lower Eastern Region Launch: As we indicated earlier we are still planning on launching operations within the lower Eastern region of Kenya. That is Machakos, Kitui and their environs.  Please reach out if you have a Pharmacy in those regions or refer someone you know who may be interested. Remember that you will get one week service charge free when they join the family. You can do this by giving them the number of our Sales Associates Jack Onyango (0720121358) and Claire Ajema (0728792499).
Payments Instructions: Two months ago we sent out a request that for mpesa payments you indicate the INVOICE NUMBER in the blank text field for Account name. We realised that some clients are still not following this directive. We kindly ask that you comply with this to enable us to reconcile your payments.

In General News please see below updates this week: 

Capacity Building: Please see below  capacity building events happening in Kenya this week that maybe of interest to you:
The Pharmaceutical Society of Kenya (PSK) has organised a webinar on the title Pharmacy Covid-19 dialogues on 15th of July 2020 at 11AM. Continuous Professional Development (CPD) will be awarded. To register please click here:  https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_zVBuyp07STa6Dzr6imSolg

Helping other retail pharmacies
If you know any other retail pharmacy we could be helping get through this difficult time, please refer them to Shelf Life and get one week service charge free when they join the family. Simply give them the number of the Sales Associate who introduced you to Shelf Life and we will take it from there once they call. 

Stay Safe.
Your friends at Shelf Life