Internal Processes and Good Practices of Medical Equipment Donation Actors

The health sector of many low-and middle-income countries relies on international donations of medical equipment, and while these donations are most of the time made in good faith, a lack of functionality due to the absence of training, poor health technology management and defective health infrastructure are clear constraints to their use. Depending on the accounts, between 40 and 70% of the medical equipment donations do not function when reaching their destination. While the WHO estimates that 95% of medical equipment in low-and middle-income countries is imported and 80% of it is funded by international donors or foreign governments, it is essential to better understand why medical equipment are so often not functional. The purpose of this research is to better inform the internal processes of medical equipment donors and to give recommendations to improve medical equipment donations. A survey was conducted to three international medical humanitarian organizations and to nine medical surplus recovery organizations in that regard. The literature review showed that guidelines and good practices on medical equipment donations exist and are quite thorough. They include the need to execute a full assessment of the recipient healthcare facility and of the human resources. The survey results show that the assessment prior to the medical equipment donation is not executed systematically, while all medical equipment donors should execute an assessment of the healthcare infrastructure and of the human resources available in the recipient facility.