ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Health Economics
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1446073
This article is part of the Research TopicHealthcare Coverage and Payment Reforms in Low- and Middle-Income CountriesView all 11 articles
Z-DEA-FMEA: Identifying Effective Strategies for Optimizing the HIV Drugs Supply Chain Using Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Approaches
Provisionally accepted
- Internet Finance Science and Technology Research Center, School of Economics and Management, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, China
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Introduction: Millions of people living with HIV around the world depend on having access to an-tiretroviral (ARV) drugs, yet the supply chain continues to confront obstacles like rising freight costs and delivery delays. These inefficiencies put timely access to life-saving medications at risk, especially in resource-limited settings. To find ways to improve the HIV drug supply chain, this study looks into the underlying causes of these disruptions. Objectives: This study aims to: (1) assess and prioritize risks in the HIV drug supply chain, focusing on failure modes impacting delivery timelines and freight costs; and (2) enhance supply chain substantivity (fulfillment capacity) and resilience (disruption adaptability) through evidence-based strategies. Methods: Using Z-numbers to handle uncertainty, we developed a hybrid multi-criteria decision-making framework that integrates Z-SWARA, Z-WASPAS, and Z-DEA-FMEA. Along with using FMEA to assess risks and identify failure modes, the method ranks them based on freight costs and delivery timeliness, using hybrid rankings, RPN, Z-SWARA/Z-WASPAS, and Z-DEA-FMEA effi-ciencies. Results: Hybrid rankings indicate that the primary contributors to supply chain inefficiencies are Quantity Errors (F14, ranked 1st, ππ‘ππ‘ππ=0.9374), Pack Price Discrepancies (F16, ranked 2nd, 0.8430), and Unit Miscalculation (F13, ranked 3rd, 0.7261). The Z-WASPAS analysis emphasizes the financial implications of F16, placing it at the top for Freight Costs (K = 0.178). Additionally, Z-DEA-FMEA notes efficiency shifts including Delivery Confirmation (F06, π=0.7303, Delivery). In the case of Weight Failures (F20), the Freight score (ππ=0.6991, ranked 3rd) surpasses that of Delivery (0.6753, ranked 4th), while Shipment Mode Selection (F04) holds the 5th position overall (ππ‘ππ‘ππ=0.6741). Discussion: Aiming to improve the availability of antiretroviral (ARV) medications, our approach integrates risk, uncertainty, and efficiency analysis to formulate evidence-based strategies by utiliz-ing Z-numbers. It redefines concepts of resilience and substantivity, providing decision-makers with a framework to enhance delivery speed and minimize costs. These improvements strengthen global health logistics.
Keywords: HIV drugs, Risk factors, supply chain, Z-number, FMEA, Z-DEA, hybrid MCDM
Received: 08 Jun 2024; Accepted: 23 Sep 2025.
Copyright: Β© 2025 Ghazvinian, Feng and Feng. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Amirkeyvan Ghazvinian, ghazvinian@njust.edu.cn
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