A Systematic Literature Review on Mathematical Models of Humanitarian Logistics

Abstract

Humanitarian logistics (HL) is considered one of the most significant issues of disaster operations and management. Thus, HL operation should be viable enough to function well under the uncertain and complex nature of the disaster. Many difficulties in pre-and post-disaster phases bring both human and economic losses. Therefore, it is essential to make sure that the HL operations are designed efficiently. In the last two decades, several publications have emphasized efficient HL operations and proposed several mathematical models and algorithms to increase the efficiency of HL operations and motivated the necessity of a systematic literature review. A systematic literature review is deemed pertinent due to its transparent and detailed article searching procedure. In this study, due to the importance of the mathematical optimization model, we reviewed more than one hundred articles published between 2000 and 2020 to investigate the optimization models in the field of HL. We classified the optimization models into three main problems: facility location problems, relief distribution, and mass evacuation where each of the classified areas includes both deterministic and non-deterministic models.

Metaheuristics in the Humanitarian Supply Chain

“…There are different classifications of the supply chain. To begin with, for their attributes in logistics, such as Dasaklis et al [17] who classify it into four groups: Configuration of the epidemic logistics network, collection of medical supplies, triage operations and other approaches; more generally according to the types of problems that are solved: Facility location and distribution model [4,5,8] and other types of problems are added such as inventory [4] and mass evacuation [5,9].…”

“…In Figure 3 the classification of the HSC is shown. It is also possible to classify them according to the formulation of the problem in integer and mixed, linear and nonlinear, deterministic and stochastic programming, by the objective function in single or multiple [4,5,9,10]. They can also be categorized according to their solution method in exact, heuristic and metaheuristic methods [8], this classification is shown in Figure 4.…”

“…It also deals with the problem of using existing ones. This problem is vital because it can mitigate human pain [9] when meeting the demand at the minimum cost at the maximum level of service [5]. Among the articles found in the review, Shavarani [44] finds the best location of the refuge and drone centers using the multilevel Facility Layout Problem, using the closest neighborhood method.…”

“…Hezam and Nayem [9] reviewed articles from 2000 to 2020, and concentrated on mathematical models in HSC, classifying the chain into three main problems: Facility location problem, relief distribution and mass evacuation, in deterministic and non-deterministic problems, also finding that the response phase (disaster) is the most addressed and the post-disaster continues to receive the least attention. Zhang and Cui [10] direct attention to the key decisions in the post-disaster process, focusing on three main topics-facility location, relief material distribution and emergency vehicle routing-concluding that future topics should focus on the storage problem.…”

Methodology for Designing Humanitarian Supply Chains: Distribution of COVID-19 Vaccines in Mexico

“…As in business-oriented SCs, a tool should be used to model HSCs. Several studies have discussed optimization in this field, especially regarding the transportation and distribution of medicines (Sabouhi et al 2020;Cardona-Valdés et al 2011;Papageorgiou et al 2001); modeling with mathematical programming (Salman Habib et al 2016), stochastic programming and robust optimization, and considering uncertainty in disaster (Hazem and Nayeem 2021). These tools guarantee the agility of the HSCs, which ensures the delivery of products (vaccines) in a timely manner.…”