One decade, millions of lives

Posted on May 15, 2012 by Kathleen Donnelly

An action plan for the Decade of Vaccines

Next week, an international group with members involved in just about every aspect of developing and delivering vaccines will present a plan to the decision-making body of the World Health Organization and ask for its endorsement. The group is called the Decade of Vaccines Collaboration. The plan proposes a way toward achieving the group’s vision: “a world in which all individuals and communities enjoy lives free from vaccine-preventable diseases.”

Nurse in white dress administers vaccine in the upper arm of adolescent boy.

In 2010, countries in the “meningitis belt” of sub-Saharan Africa began introducing a vaccine against meningitis A. Photo: PATH/Gabe Bienczycki.

There’s plenty in the plan to make the hearts of global health groupies race. Even the acronyms, always a marker of a meaty global health text, reach new heights of creativity. But here’s what you need to know: the plan estimates that sustaining and increasing the use of ten existing vaccines will save 24 to 26 million lives by 2020. Continue reading »

Posted in Vaccines and immunization | Leave a comment

Oh, baby! Stories from moms the world over

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Emeline Cokelet Meneken

In the early-morning hours after my daughter Naya’s birth, I was jolted awake by crying. As I rubbed sleep from my eyes, a nurse plucked the baby from her hospital crib, handed her to me, and encouraged me to feed and soothe her.

Over the next two days, that nurse and others showed my husband and me how to support Naya’s wobbly head, bathe her, even strap her into her car seat. Their experience and information helped me navigate my new role as a mom.

Baby in red dress, smiling mother reclining behind her.

Alice Muthoni, a finance officer in PATH’s Nairobi office, with her daughter Amanda, now 2. See their story below. Photo: courtesy of Alice Muthoni.

Good information and great support are crucial to moms and babies whether they live in Seattle, in Nairobi, or in the tiny village of Devpuri, India. In Devpuri, and in hundreds of villages and urban slums in India, our Sure Start project has helped millions of families navigate childbirth and get off to a healthy start. You can see some of their stories in our new special web feature.

In the meantime, we asked some PATH colleagues about becoming moms. We invite you to read about them, and then to tell us about your own experiences on Facebook and Twitter. Happy Mother’s Day! Continue reading »

Posted in About PATH, Featured posts, Maternal and child health | 1 Comment

Read our birth stories, then tell yours

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Teresa Guillien

When it comes to pregnancy and childbirth, good information and support make all the difference. So what happens when the support’s not there and the information is more dangerous than helpful? In India, it means an astounding number of babies die before they reach their first week of life—one million each year—and 78,000 women die in childbirth.

Screenshot of website featuring grid with 12 images of people and tools used to make childbirth safer in India.

Click on the image above to visit our new special feature and learn how we worked to make childbirth safer in India. Photo: PATH.

Posted in Featured posts, Maternal and child health | Leave a comment

Sure Start for moms and babies in India

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Lesley Reed

Woman with dark hair, silver eyeglasses.

W. Sita Shankar.

We’re celebrating results from PATH’s Sure Start project, which reached 24.5 million people in India with information and support to make childbirth safer. To learn more, see our special feature on the project. W. Sita Shankar, our director of Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition in India, spoke to us in advance of a visit to Seattle, where she’ll be sharing the Sure Start story at our Breakfast for Global Health on May 22.

Q. Sure Start relied almost entirely on people working within their communities. Why did you take this approach?

A. About a million babies in India die each year during childbirth or before they’re a month old. To address this huge number of unnecessary deaths, the transformation really needs to begin at the individual, family, and community levels. Simple acts can save the lives of many babies, but people have to know about them, and they have to be convinced to change traditional practices. We saw an imperative need for a community-based behavior change intervention.

Group of women and their children sitting cross-legged on ground.

Mothers and their children take part in a mothers' group meeting. Photo: PATH/Gabe Bienczycki.

To inspire this transformation, Sure Start developed champions for safe childbirth in villages and slums that are barely reached by the health system. We mentored around 7,800 front-line health workers and equipped them with the skills to overcome deep-seated social norms and to convince people to adopt best practices for healthy pregnancy and childbirth. Continue reading »

Posted in Maternal and child health | Leave a comment

Today, go global and GiveBIG

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Sandy Marvinney

Image of Mt. Rainier with text, 'giveBIG The Seattle Foundation.'

Click the image above to go to the The Seattle Foundation's website and GiveBIG to PATH today.

PATH has offices all over the world, but today, we’re especially happy to call Seattle our headquarters city. That’s because we’re part of The Seattle Foundation’s community-wide day of giving, called GiveBIG. Until midnight, you can join thousands of others in giving through the foundation’s annual matching program for nonprofit organizations based in the Puget Sound region.

No matter where you live, all you have to do is visit PATH’s profile on The Seattle Foundation’s website and click the “donate now” button. And do it by 11:59 tonight.

How does GiveBIG work?

During the 24 hours from midnight to midnight Pacific Daylight Time today, The Seattle Foundation will magnify your online donation to PATH. The more money we raise today, the larger the percentage of matching funds we will receive. And thanks to a challenge grant from a generous PATH supporter, the first $2,500 donated to PATH through GiveBIG will be matched dollar-for-dollar.

GiveBIG day last year raised $4.1 million to support more than 900 nonprofit organizations. Your participation today will support a cause you believe in and help us increase our share of matching funds.

Your gift will be a catalyst

Every donation of any size on GiveBIG day will expand PATH’s Catalyst Fund, which provides crucial flexible funding to support our work. Support from people like you has catalyzed some of our largest and most effective programs, benefiting millions of people around the world.

How to participate in GiveBIG

It’s simple. Visit PATH’s profile on The Seattle Foundation website. Click the donate button. Do it by 11:59 p.m. Then, encourage your friends and colleagues to join you in giving.

Thank you!

Posted in About PATH |

Ghana introduces two new vaccines today

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Doune Porter

I came to Ghana to support global communications around today’s unprecedented simultaneous launch of two new vaccines with my head full of ideas about the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of introducing two vaccines at once.

You can see a short video I made with the GAVI Alliance about preparations for the introduction below.

View our video to see what it takes to introduce two vaccines at once.

I work in PATH’s Vaccine Access and Delivery program on the Accelerated Vaccine Introduction initiative, a GAVI-funded project. Accelerating vaccine introductions is what we’re all about, so we’re all excited about this dual introduction of pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccines against the leading causes of pneumonia and diarrhea, the biggest killers of children around the world.

Posted in Diarrheal disease, Featured posts, Pneumonia, Vaccines and immunization | 2 Comments

Investing in malaria fight pays off

Posted on April 25, 2012 by Kathleen Donnelly

Boy in blue shirt looking directly at the photographer.

Investments in fighting malaria are paying off for children like this young boy from Zambia. Photo: PATH/Gena Morgan.

Today is World Malaria Day, and we’ve got good news about the fight against a disease that still kills about 650,000 people, mainly young African children, every year. Earlier this month, we told you about the work of the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative and our affiliate, OneWorld Health. Today, Dr. Kent Campbell, director of PATH’s Malaria Control and Evaluation Partnership in Africa (MACEPA) writes about the importance of investing in malaria work. You can learn more about the work on the MACEPA website.

by Dr. Kent Campbell

The world has made enormous strides in fighting malaria in the past decade. The lives of many children have been saved, families are healthier and more financially secure, and the malaria parasite is on the run. Strong country leadership and a united Roll Back Malaria partnership have been critical to these accomplishments.

Thumbnail of 'Investing in Malaria Pays Off' infographic.

Malaria control is one of the best public health investments in generations. Click the image above to see why (3 MB PDF).

The combination of multilateral and bilateral funding to countries has provided the critical support for program implementation. And best of all, the tools to fight the disease are inexpensive and easy to deploy. The bottom line? Malaria control is one of the best value-for-money public health investments in generations, as illustrated in this malaria investment infographic (3 MB PDF).

World Malaria Day is this week, and we’ve reached a critical moment in history. The current economic climate is challenging, and the successes to date are fragile. We must choose to keep investing in shrinking the malaria map, and not let commitments subside and allow the disease to resurge. Millions of lives depend on the strong support needed to continue to make progress towards the attainable goal—a world free from malaria.

Posted in Featured posts, Malaria | Leave a comment

Why Ida’s in line for vaccine

Posted on April 20, 2012 by Kathleen Donnelly

World Immunization Week begins tomorrow, which gives organizations like ours the chance to highlight the lifesaving record of immunization and encourage families to vaccinate their children against deadly diseases.

Woman in orange shirt with baby strapped to her lower back.

Ida Tapsoba and her daughter, Ariane. Photo: PATH/Gabe Bienczycki.

But it’s one thing for us to tell you immunization is a lifesaver. It’s another to hear Ida Tapsoba talk about its value.

A “big problem”

We met Ida during Burkina Faso’s 2010 vaccination campaign against meningococcal A meningitis. She was standing in line to get immunized at a village health center, her 13-month-old daughter wrapped tight to her back with a colorful piece of cloth.

Getting meningitis, an infection of the lining surrounding the brain and spinal cord, is a big problem, Ida told us as she waited for her shot.

It’s a problem because treating a sick child can consume a third of a family’s disposable income; because even survivors are at risk of serious disabilities like brain damage and hearing loss; because one in ten people who get the disease die, typically within a day or two of falling sick.

Who will vaccines save tomorrow? See our video.

Posted in Featured posts, Meningitis, Vaccines and immunization | Leave a comment

A healthy start for babies in India

Posted on April 17, 2012 by John Ballenot

This week, more than 200 people, including representatives of the Indian government, nongovernmental organizations, and community health workers, met in New Delhi to celebrate the results of PATH’s Sure Start project, a seven-year effort funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to improve the health of families. Since its start in 2005, the unprecedented, community-based project has reached nearly 25 million people—about 2 percent of India’s billion-plus population—with services aimed at making childbirth safer and babies healthier.

Woman in orange and white head scarf holds book featuring illustration of mother and child.

A health worker talks to women at a Sure Start mothers’ group meeting. Photo: PATH/Gabe Bienczycki.

Sure Start’s results showed improvements in health behaviors and increases in the use of health services. Communities that hosted Sure Start projects, for example, saw large increases in the percentage of women receiving prenatal care, the number giving birth in hospitals, and the number adopting recommended breastfeeding practices. Continue reading »

Posted in Maternal and child health, Reproductive health | Leave a comment

The lure of a malaria vaccine

Posted on April 13, 2012 by Kathleen Donnelly

When Dr. David Kaslow joined the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI) as director recently, he continued a professional career notable for his commitment to understanding the malaria parasite and developing a human vaccine against it. In advance of World Malaria Day on April 25, Dr. Kaslow answered a few questions about malaria, vaccine, and his work.

Q. You have a long history of working to develop an effective vaccine against malaria. How did you get started in the field, and what keeps you at it?

Mother and toddler sit in front of blister pack of medication.

Testing for malaria in Zambia. Photo: PATH/Gena Morgan.

A. Although I’m a physician trained in human genetics, my scientific career has focused on infectious diseases, starting at NIH (National Institutes of Health) in basic research studying the biology of the malaria parasite, in particular the stages that transmit the parasite from humans to mosquitoes.

After 13 years at NIH, I decided to learn industrial-strength vaccine development, both in big pharma and biotech. When the exciting opportunity arose to join the MVI team, I couldn’t resist picking up where I left off 13 years ago with malaria vaccine research and development. I’m very excited about MVI’s role in producing what could be the world’s first human vaccine against a parasite, a malaria vaccine candidate called RTS,S. I’m also excited about the prospects of next-generation malaria vaccines that either build off of RTS,S or use such innovative approaches as blocking the transmission of malaria between mosquitoes and people, thus breaking the disease cycle altogether. Continue reading »

Posted in Featured posts, Malaria, Vaccines and immunization | Leave a comment