Project Optimize—a collaboration between the World Health Organization and PATH—aims to employ technological and scientific advances in the immunization field. This document describes efforts to define ideal specifications for health products and create a flexible and robust vaccine supply chain that can handle an increasingly large and costly portfolio of vaccines.

Publication date: November 2010

Region: Global

This briefing paper underscores the burden of rotavirus and highlights the promise of vaccines to combat the virus as the global health community prepares for worldwide introduction.  

Publication date: September 2009

Region: Global

Keeping heat-sensitive vaccines and other drugs at the right temperature is crucial yet often difficult in areas with limited or no electrical power. In response to this challenge, a group of public- and private-sector partners is working with project Optimize to evaluate a range of transportation and storage containers for heat-sensitive drugs and vaccines that operate in environments with or without access to reliable power.

Publication date: July 2012

Region: Global

Project Optimize, a collaboration between PATH and the World Health Organization, undertook a cost-comparison case study of five container options for vaccine transport from the national to the regional level in Senegal. This report may be used as a starting point for other country vaccine programs weighing transport options in the face of increasing vaccine volume.

Author: Lorenson K, Mvundura M

Publication date: January 2013

Region: Global

Facilitated by project Optimize and conducted by a multidisciplinary group of partners, these landscape analyses highlight ongoing work related to five priority areas that comprise the vision for immunization supply systems in 2020. The analyses also highlight critical gaps that need to be addressed to achieve the vision. The five priority areas are vaccine and related products, supply system design, environmental impact, information systems, and human resources. The document is available as one large file or as six smaller files for easier downloading.

Publication date: June 2011

Region: Global

This article was published in Vaccine, Volume 27, Issue 1, Jones Braun L, Tyagi A, Perkins S, et al, Development of a freeze-stable formulation for vaccines containing aluminum salt adjuvants, pp. 72-79, Copyright Elsevier (2009). The journal may be accessed at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/0264410X. 

Author: Jones Braun L, Tyagi A, Perkins S, et al

Publication date: January 2009

Region: Global

The September 2004 issue of PATH's programmatic newsletter focuses on five projects: PATH's Children's Vaccine Program, which is strengthening immunization in Senegal, Cambodia, and India; evaluation of the SolarChill refrigerator, which is using solar power to fuel the cold chain; our cervical cancer work in Kenya and Peru, as part of the Alliance for Cervical Cancer Prevention; the Program for Advancement of Commercial Technology–Child and Reproductive Health (PACT-CRH), which is transferring health technologies to India's private sector; and results from three evaluations of clean home delivery kits used in Nepal and Tanzania.

Author: PATH

Publication date: September 2004

Region: Global

Part of series: Directions in Global Health

This special issue of Directions in Global Health highlights PATH's vaccine partnership efforts: PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI), pneumococcal vaccine development project, Meningitis Vaccine Project, cervical cancer vaccine project, and Rotavirus Vaccine Program. The issue also features a case study of the vaccine vial monitor.

Author: PATH

Publication date: May 2007

Region: Global

Part of series: Directions in Global Health

This issue of Directions in Global Health profiles five aspects of PATH's work: our regional efforts to control tuberculosis, the development of and new applications for the Uniject device, a study evaluating storage of hepatitis B vaccine outside of the cold chain, promotion of condom use among young people, and PATH's procurement team.

Publication date: January 2008

Region: Global

Part of series: Directions in Global Health

This issue of Directions in Global Health profiles our effort to expand access to safe water, particularly in India; a project to improve nutrition for infants and young children; our thermostable vaccine work; surveillance activities for Japanese encephalitis; and our work under the Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition.

Publication date: May 2008

Region: Global

Part of series: Directions in Global Health

This issue of Directions in Global Health features PATH’s work to optimize vaccine supply systems, advance development of malaria vaccine candidates, prevent postpartum hemorrhage to save mothers’ lives, address health needs in Tanzania, and use monitoring and evaluation systems to further PATH’s mission. It also highlights two prestigious awards that PATH recently received.

Publication date: December 2009

Region: Global

Part of series: Directions in Global Health

This issue of Directions in Global Health features PATH’s work related to vaccines and immunization. Articles cover the development and introduction of a vaccine to eliminate epidemic meningitis in Africa, use of vaccines and other interventions to prevent cervical cancer, transformation of vaccine distribution systems, expansion of access to rotavirus vaccines, and advancements in vaccine technologies.

Publication date: May 2011

Region: Global

Part of series: Directions in Global Health

Part of the Technology Updates series, this fact sheet describes PATH's work on designing the next generation of jet injectors.

Publication date: May 2012

Region: Global

Part of series: Technology Updates

This project Optimize document summarizes a laboratory report on performance testing of four models of domestic refrigerators that are available on the Tunisian market. Project Optimize contracted the tests to demonstrate to the government the importance of prequalification of models according to World Health Organization quality, safety, and standards for the storage of vaccines.

Author: Lloyd J, McCarney S, Ouhichi R

Publication date: October 2012

Region: Africa

This document is part of a series that describes the serious risk of freezing vaccines and provides tools to reduce freezing in the cold chain. The materials contain current WHO-recommended freeze-prevention strategies targeted toward all levels of storage and transport of vaccines.

Publication date: 2003

Region: Global

This report is a synthesis of the project Evaluating HPV Vaccine Delivery Strategies in Vietnam, which aimed to identify appropriate strategies for human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine delivery in different geographic and socioeconomic conditions. The report summarizes results of both the implementation and research aspects of the project. The document is available as one large file or as four smaller files for easier downloading.

Publication date: December 2010

Region: Asia

This document summarizes the results of a study of out-of-the-cold-chain approaches for improving on-time delivery of birth doses of the hepatitis B vaccine in rural areas of China.

Publication date: 2006

Region: Asia

This document is part of a series that describes the serious risk of freezing vaccines and provides tools to reduce freezing in the cold chain. The materials contain current WHO-recommended freeze-prevention strategies targeted toward all levels of storage and transport of vaccines.

Publication date: 2003

Region: Global

This fact sheet from the Global Health Technologies Coalition provides specific recommendations to US policymakers about the role and engagement of the US government in a future advance market commitment.

Publication date: March 2011

Region: North America and Europe

This document provides a final report, including summary and recommendations, on a regional workshop to discuss cold chain management issues, particularly regarding their impact on vaccine availability and effectiveness. The workshop was organized by PATH and UNICEF's Regional Office for Latin America & the Caribbean; it was held May 31 through June 2, 2006, in Panama City.

Publication date: 2006

Region: Asia