Global investments to strengthen regulatory capacity in developing countries help ensure desperately needed medical products are delivered, thereby improving health and equipping countries with the expertise and infrastructure to make important health decisions for years to come.

Publication date: July 2012

Region: Global

Project Optimize, a World Health Organization and PATH collaboration, is working to enable immunization programs to take advantage of the true stability of vaccines by labeling them for use at ambient temperatures in a controlled temperature chain for limited periods of time as appropriate to the stability of the antigen.

Publication date: July 2012

Region: Global

In collaboration with the Albanian Ministry of Health, project Optimize has installed a short message service–based system that monitors and logs temperature conditions in peripheral cold chain equipment. The team aims to assess the benefits of remote alarm systems over nonconnected temperature loggers.

Publication date: July 2012

Region: Global

This document describes how project Optimize and the Tunisian Ministry of Public Health are collaborating to explore new logistics and supply chain solutions that can optimize the vaccine supply chain.

Publication date: July 2012

Region: Africa

This document describes how project Optimize is collaborating with Vietnam’s National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology to demonstrate innovations in the supply chain that can help to meet the demands of an increasingly large and costly portfolio of vaccines.

Publication date: July 2012

Region: Asia

This fact sheet describes the positive impact that adjuvants can have on vaccine efficacy and, potentially, immunization program costs. It also describes PATH’s work to expand global access to proprietary and non-proprietary adjuvants as well as relevant formulations technologies to facilitate their successful exploration and use by product development partnerships and developing-country vaccine manufacturers.

Publication date: June 2012

Region: Global

The positive impact of adjuvants on vaccination can be functional and practical. A handful of adjuvants are currently licensed for human vaccination, and a number of new adjuvants have reached advanced development stages. However, access to these and other adjuvants is limited. Presented at the 2012 Conference on Modern Vaccines Adjuvants and Delivery Systems, this poster outlines PATH’s work to expand access to proprietary and non-proprietary adjuvants as well as relevant formulations technologies to facilitate their successful exploration and use by product development partnerships and developing-country vaccine manufacturers.

Author: Blum J, Chen D, Cummings R

Publication date: June 2012

Region: Global

This fact sheet describes how project Optimize and our partners, Agence de Médecine Préventive, United Nations Children’s Fund, and the Vaccine Modeling Initiative at University of Pittsburgh, are working with countries to model the impact of changes to vaccine logistics and supply systems on vaccine availability, using a powerful new modeling tool called HERMES.

Publication date: May 2012

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

Part of the Technology Updates series, this fact sheet describes PATH's work on vaccine stabilization, including the development of a method to protect vaccines containing an aluminum adjuvant from freeze damage, the identification of a technology to improve the heat stability of certain vaccines, and the improvement of vaccine stability through reformulation involving glass-forming sugars plus other excipients and processing via spray drying.

Publication date: May 2012

Region: Global

Part of series: Technology Updates

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

In collaboration with experts from the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, the Clinton Health Access Initiative, the University of Washington, and the national immunization programs of Uganda, Kenya, and Malawi, PATH developed the Cold Chain Equipment Manager (CCEM)—an inventory and planning tool that utilizes Microsoft Access–based software and analytic tools to help with data collection and analysis. Planning algorithms, data visualization, system modeling, and report-generation by CCEM adhere to national immunization policies and WHO/UNICEF standards. This poster, first presented in March 2012 at the Fifth Annual International Conference on Information Communication Technologies and Development, outlines the role and potential positive impact of the CCEM in lead up to the introduction of new pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccines.

Author: Anderson R, Lloyd J, Newland S

Publication date: March 2012

Region: Global

The Cold Chain Equipment Manager (CCEM) is a Microsoft Access–based software tool. It is accompanied by a user manual, data collection questionnaires, a surveyor’s guide to these questionnaires, and an equipment identification guide. CCEM also comes with practice files, providing new users with practice data to demonstrate how CCEM will analyze cold chain equipment data and facilitate multiyear equipment planning. CCEM version 2.1 is available for download (see below) or, to request a copy on CD, email CCEMinfo@path.org.

Publication date: January 2012

Region: Global

Project Optimize, a collaboration between the World Health Organization and PATH, assessed the cost implications of leveraging a regional distribution center for the international transportation of vaccines. This report outlines the economic issues that need to be addressed for such a solution to be acceptable to country decision-makers, vaccine manufacturers, and private-sector warehouse and distribution companies.

Publication date: December 2011

Region: Global

Facilitated by project Optimize, a World Health Organization and PATH collaboration, this review was conducted in the Western Cape of South Africa whereby the Biovac Institute (a third-party, private-sector company) took over the roles of vaccine procurement, warehouse management, inventory management, and vaccine distribution directly to health centers.

Author: Lydon P

Publication date: October 2011

Region: Africa

Health Systems Research Institute, in partnership with project Optimize, a PATH and World Health Organization collaboration, commissioned a study led by the Faculty of Pharmacy, Mahidol University, to better understand the vaccine supply chain system in Thailand and the challenges of implementing a streamlined vendor-managed inventory system.

Publication date: September 2011

Region: Asia

Between March and December 2010 this project Optimize study assessed the marginal managerial advantages of using a global system for mobile communications/short message service messaging to transmit the temperature data in 24 health centers of the district of Shkodra, Albania.

Publication date: July 2011

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 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

The objective of this project Optimize assessment was to understand the structure, scope, and quality of the vaccine supply chain for fee-based immunization services and to provide recommendations for strengthening management and monitoring the quality of the vaccine supply chain for fee-based immunization.

Publication date: April 2011

Region: Asia