This issue of Directions in Global Health highlights PATH’s work to increase access to lifesaving products for women. It features a commentary by Catharine Taylor, who directs PATH’s Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition Program. Other articles cover efforts to improve health and nutrition with orange-fleshed sweetpotatoes in Kenya, increase hepatitis B vaccination for newborns in Vietnam, fight childhood tuberculosis in Tanzania, and assess a range of technologies for their potential impact in reducing maternal deaths.

Publication date: December 2012

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

An exploration of one technique for drying reagents onto a microfluidics card. Reagents needed for immunocapture, lysis, and PCR for pathogen capture can be stored in trehalose or trehalose dextran. Presented at the 1st Distributed Diagnosis and Home Healthcare Conference, April 2, 2006; Arlington, VA.

Author: Ramachandran S, Weigl BH, Gerdes JC, et al

Publication date: April 2006

Region: Global

Fifteen strains of Escherichia coli from various geographical areas, animal, and soil sources were tested on standard and nonstandard detection assays at temperatures from 23°C to 45°C to test the viability of currently available E. coli tests in low-resource settings. Presented at the American Society for Microbiology Conference, June 1, 2008; Boston, MA.

Author: Allen E, Dillman L, Weigl B

Publication date: June 2008

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 fact sheet summarizes the technical efforts and objectives of PATH's non-replicating rotavirus vaccine (NRRV) project. It outlines the vaccine candidates under evaluation and primary partners, as well as the rationale for the NRRV approach.

Publication date: January 2013

Region: Global

This fact sheet describes PATH's work in malaria control and prevention, including our work under the Malaria Control and Evaluation Partnership in Africa (MACEPA), the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI), and with PATH affiliate OneWorld Health.

Publication date: September 2012

Region: Global

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

A malaria vaccine, deployed in combination with current malaria-control tools, could play an important role in the future control and eventual elimination of malaria in Africa. This article, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, reports the initial results of an ongoing phase 3 trial of RTS,S/AS01 being conducted at 11 centers in seven African countries.

Publication date: November 2011

Region: Africa

Publication date: 2004

Region: Global

The Global Health Technologies Coalition's website offers information and resources on research and development for new global health tools. It also serves as a clearinghouse of information about coalition activities and global health research and development.

Publication date: 2013

Region: Global

Part of series: Websites

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

Publication date: 2003

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

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

Author: Smith T; Wittet S

Publication date: 2000

Region: Global

Part of series: CVP Occasional Papers

Author: Wittet S

Publication date: 2001

Region: Global

Part of series: CVP Occasional Papers

This fact sheet on the history of vaccines gives a brief overview of disease rates before and after the development of vaccines.

Publication date: January 2012

Region: Global

This fact sheet describes the model employed by the Meningitis Vaccine Project to develop a safe, affordable, and long-lasting vaccine with the potential to end Group A meningococcal epidemics in Africa, as well as the contributions of many key partners who made the development of MenAfriVac™ such a success story.

Publication date: September 2011

Region: Global