PATH’s Safe Water Project is implementing innovative methods to enable commercial enterprises to produce, distribute, sell, and maintain effective household water treatment and storage products for low-income populations in multiple developing countries around the world. This project brief summarizes the findings of PATH's work with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to investigate the effects of an innovative program that promoted a chlorine disinfectant for treatment of water at home to pregnant women seeking antenatal care.

Author: Kols A

Publication date: July 2011

Region: Africa

Part of series: Safe water briefs

PATH is working to promote human milk banking to improve nutrition for infants who are especially vulnerable, such as those in resource-limited settings who are pre-term, low birthweight, severely malnourished, born to HIV-positive mothers, or orphaned. These briefs provide an overview of why human milk banking is important and how it can be integrated within breastfeeding strategies.

Publication date: July 2011

Region: Africa

From tracking tuberculosis in Africa to providing better maternal and child health care in India, PATH's work in health information systems is bridging the gap between global health and information and communication technology using a different approach—a user-driven enterprise architecture and technology that addresses user requirements. Find out more about PATH's work in digital health solutions.

Publication date: June 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 study was an external analysis of the viability of supporting oxytocin in the Uniject™ injection system as a niche product in both the public and private sectors globally. A major component of this analysis was to conduct separate market analyses of 30 countries identified by the US Agency for International Development as priority countries for maternal health interventions.

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

Featured in this issue of PATH Today are stories and photos from the historic launch of a new meningitis vaccine in Burkina Faso. Also included are updates on projects receiving support from the Catalyst Fund, announcement of a seventh consecutive top rating from Charity Navigator, and a spotlight on Breakfast for Global Health sponsor CB Richard Ellis.

Publication date: May 2011

Region: Global

Part of series: PATH Today

This Alliance for Cervical Cancer Prevention fact sheet summarizes evidence published since 2009 on cervical cancer screening approaches for low-resource settings.

Publication date: May 2011

Region: Global

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

This document is an independent review of the Health Information Systems Programme (HISP) and an assessment of its achievements. HISP is a global project to strengthen public health systems and the developer of the District Health Information System (DHIS) software for collecting and aggregating health statistics.

Publication date: April 2011

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

PATH’s Safe Water Project joined a number of partners in an effort to monitor and better understand the increased use of a water-treatment product, WaterGuard, among groups of new mothers in Malawi. The chlorine-based water treatment product was made available to pregnant women at antenatal care clinics as part of a hygiene kit. Uptake and use of the product rose sharply, not only among these women, but also among friends and relatives. PATH conducted qualitative research involving in-depth interviews to better understand why this uptake occurred.

Publication date: March 2011

Region: Africa

This fact sheet from the Global Health Technologies Coalition examines how US leadership in global health research helps to saves lives worldwide and provides domestic economic benefits.

Publication date: March 2011

Region: North America and Europe

PATH’s Safe Water Project is implementing an innovative project with the goal of enabling commercial enterprises to produce, distribute, sell, and maintain effective household water treatment and storage products for low-income populations in multiple developing countries around the world. This report shares the findings from user testing conducted for five such products in Andhra Pradesh, India, in 2009.

Publication date: March 2011

Region: Asia

This brief summarizes the strategic demand models developed by PATH and the Futures Institute for the injectable contraceptive depo-subQ provera 104™ in the Uniject™ injection system (depo-subQ in Uniject) in Kenya, Malawi, Pakistan, Rwanda, and Senegal. These models will help inform global and country introduction planning for depo-subQ in Uniject.

Publication date: February 2011

Region: Global

This brief describes results from an analysis conducted by PATH comparing the current intramuscular version of depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) injectable contraceptive compared with a new formulation packaged in the Uniject™ injection system. The analysis focused on waste management implications, identifying key quantitative and qualitative differences between the two products.

Publication date: February 2011

Region: Global

This report provides an overview of Nicaragua's health system and diagnostic needs. It is supported by individual case studies on Chagas disease, dengue, and malaria in Nicaragua. These studies focus on several factors influencing the health care system in Nicaragua, including recent trends, regional and national control strategies, financing and partnerships, and the unmet clinical needs associated with each illness.

Author: Sequeira M, Espinoza H, Amador JJ, Domingo G, Quintanilla M, de los Santos T

Publication date: February 2011

Region: Latin America

This brief summarizes key findings from a literature review conducted by PATH to identify published and gray literature reporting international experiences with the Uniject™ injection system. The findings shed light on user acceptability and highlight potential cost savings in terms of training time, waste management, and reduction in drug wastage when Uniject is used instead of a standard autodisable syringe. This document synthesizes the experience and evidence on the use of Uniject worldwide with medicines such as the injectable contraceptive Cyclofem®, hepatitis B and tetanus toxoid vaccines, as well as the drug oxytocin, which is used to prevent postpartum hemorrhage.

Publication date: February 2011

Region: Global

PATH’s Safe Water Project is exploring the potential for commercial enterprises to reach low-income populations with household water treatment and storage devices. This document describes the household water treatment and storage market and low-income user needs to guide current or potential manufacturers’ decisions about where it is most or least fruitful to try to increase end-user satisfaction.

Publication date: January 2011

Region: Global

Part of series: Safe water briefs

Vaccine vial monitors (VVMs) are small stickers that adhere to vaccine vials and change color as the vaccine is exposed to heat, letting health workers know whether the vaccine can be safely used for immunization. This fact sheet answers the most frequently asked questions regarding VVMs.

Publication date: January 2011

Region: Global