The SHOPS Plus project, funded by USAID and implemented by the Afghan Social Marketing Organization (ASMO), aimed to bolster the sustainability and impact of health product distribution in Afghanistan from January 2016 to June 2020.
With a $12 million budget, the project focused on improving access to family planning, diarrhoea management, and nutrition products. Major initiatives included enhancing the geographic availability of current and new health products, launching social and behavioural change communication campaigns to boost consumer demand, and strengthening ASMO’s technical, institutional, and financial capacity.
A significant project component was introducing and distributing household water purification tablets, known as Aquatabs, which were critical in preventing waterborne diseases. This initiative ensured that safe drinking water was more accessible, thus improving public health outcomes. The project also expanded ASMO’s product line to include oral rehydration salts combined with zinc for treating paediatric diarrhoea and cost-effective Iron Folic Acid tablets. SHOPS Plus also introduced mobile software applications to enhance operational efficiency for better sales planning and product resupply.
