Publication date: 2001

Region: Global

The Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP)—endorsed by the 194 Member States of the World Health Assembly in May 2012—is a roadmap to prevent millions of deaths by 2020 through more equitable access to vaccines for people in all communities. The GVAP aims to strengthen routine immunization, introduce new and improved vaccines, and advance research and development for the next generation of vaccines and technologies.

Author: Decade of Vaccines Collaboration

Publication date: May 2012

Region: Global

Many health facilities in remote areas operate without grid electricity, have unreliable electricity, or find that using electricity is too costly. In these settings, solar energy is a promising solution for powering the storage and transportation of vaccines and heat‐sensitive drugs at controlled temperatures. Project Optimize, a collaboration between the World Health Organization and PATH, has been working with public and private partners on several solar technologies tailored to the following local electrical power conditions: unavailable or unreliable power, intermittent power, and reliable power.

Publication date: July 2012

Region: Global

Poster describing how to conduct the shake test to determine whether a vaccine has been frozen. 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

Poster describing how to conduct the shake test to determine whether a vaccine in Uniject has been frozen. 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 document provides an historical overview of PATH's work on technologies for injection safety.

Publication date: January 2006

Region: Global

Historical profile on the PATH development and advancement of the Uniject device.

Publication date: June 2005

Region: North America and Europe

Historical profile on the PATH development and advancement of vaccine vial monitors.

Publication date: June 2005

Region: North America and Europe

This article, published in Human Vaccines (Human Vaccines 5:8, 1-7; August 2009), details a collaborative effort between PATH, Arecor, and the University of Colorado Denver School of Pharmacy that has resulted in a new formulation for recombinant hepatitis B vaccine that demonstrates improved stability at elevated temperatures. The formulation exhibited 9-week stability at 55°C and was also shown to be stable at both 37°C and 45°C for at least six months. This new vaccine formulation has the potential to be stored at room temperature for part of its shelf life and will help ensure the potency of the vaccine in areas where the cold chain is insufficient.

Author: Jezek J, Chen D, Watson L, et al.

Publication date: August 2009

Region: Global

In July 2010, project Optimize held workshops in Washington, DC, and Seattle, WA, to engage stakeholders from a wide variety of organizations. The workshops discussed developing-country immunization systems and sought participant perspectives on the desired future state of the systems. This document provides a summary of the workshops.

Publication date: July 2010

Region: Global

This report from the vaccine technologies team at PATH presents results from an economic model that calculates the costs involved in delivering IPV vaccine in Indian immunization clinics according to three strategies: (1) intradermal delivery of reduced volumes of vaccine per dose, (2) use of adjuvants to allow a reduced IPV antigen content per dose, and (3) reduction of the number of doses per IPV immunization schedule. The strategies include delivery by standard technique and with alternative delivery devices.

Author: Hickling J, Jones R, Nundi N, Zehrung D

Publication date: April 2010

Region: Global

Project Optimize is collaborating with the Senegalese Ministry of Health to implement and validate a "moving warehouse" that will streamline the vaccine supply chain from the regional to the peripheral level. A moving warehouse is a truck composed of delivery teams that visit each health facility, check stock levels, and replenish stock as needed.

Publication date: July 2012

Region: Global

This fact sheet from the Global Health Technologies Coalition explores different incentives and innovative financing mechanisms and their role in global health product development.

Publication date: October 2010

Region: North America and Europe

This fact sheet outlines PATH's work on vaccines and immunization. Topic areas include developing affordable vaccines, designing innovative vaccine technologies, and expanding uptake of existing vaccines. These efforts reduce the burden of malaria, meningitis, diarrheal disease, Japanese encephalitis, pneumococcal disease, influenza, and other infectious diseases in developing countries.

Publication date: December 2011

Region: Global

Part of series: PATH's areas of focus fact sheets

In areas such as Southeast Asia with a high incidence of mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B, WHO recommends a birth dose of the vaccine for all children. Hepatitis B vaccine is typically kept refrigerated, within the cold chain. This fact sheet reports on an effort by PATH and Vietnam's National Expanded Program on Immunization to increase coverage rates for the vaccine in Thanh Hoa Province through a new strategy?storing the vaccine outside of the cold chain and using vaccine vial monitors to confirm that the vaccine continued to confer effective protection.

Publication date: 2007

Region: Asia

Disposable-syringe jet injectors have the potential to deliver vaccines safely and affordably. However, there are complex cost considerations that must be taken into account with any new technology. This article, published in Vaccine, estimates the incremental costs of transitioning from needles and syringes to delivering childhood vaccines with disposable-syringe jet injectors in Brazil, India, and South Africa.

Author: Griffiths UK, Santos AC, Nundy N, Jacoby E, Matthias D

Publication date: October 2010

Region: Global

This document describes the partnership that created the vaccine vial monitor, providing a useful example to policymakers, funders, nongovernmental and multilateral organizations, and product developers of how the public and private sectors can better address today’s greatest global health needs through dynamic, long-term partnerships.

Publication date: September 2012

Region: North America and Europe

This fact sheet provides an overview of PATH's work to develop and deliver innovative health solutions for those who need them most. These solutions range from developing and introducing affordable, appropriate technologies to creating conditions that lead to widespread use of proven methods.

Publication date: April 2012

Region: Global

Innovation for Global Health is the Global Health Technologies Coalition's e-newsletter focusing on the development and delivery of lifesaving health tools to people in need worldwide. The newsletter provides updates on the latest research and policy developments on innovative tools to prevent, diagnose, and treat diseases. It includes news from US agencies, Congress, the current administration, and the global health community at large.

Publication date: 2013

Region: North America and Europe

Part of series: E-newsletters

This project Optimize document describes an effort by the World Health Organization, PATH, the Pan American Health Organization, and the Guatemala Ministry of Public Health and Social Services to address challenges related to vaccine introduction. The goal is to develop an information system that will enable the digital recording and transmission of immunization data.

Publication date: November 2010

Region: Global