Part of the Technology Updates series, this fact sheet describes PATH's work, in collaboration with the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, to evaluate and create a microneedle patch that will allow people to self-administer influenza vaccine.

Publication date: April 2012

Region: Global

Part of series: Technology Updates

As part of project Optimize, a five-year human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine demonstration project is under way in Vietnam, Uganda, India, and Peru to generate evidence for government decision-making about successful vaccine delivery strategies to provide HPV vaccine to young adolescent girls. HPV vaccine is a strong candidate for storage and transport in a controlled temperature chain at temperatures higher than the standard 2° to 8°C cold chain storage.

Publication date: September 2010

Region: Global

Part of the Technology Updates series, this fact sheet describes PATH's work on mucosal immunization technologies.

Publication date: May 2012

Region: Global

Part of series: Technology Updates

MVP News Digest provides a quarterly update of activities at the Meningitis Vaccine Project, a partnership between the World Health Organization and PATH. The Meningitis Vaccine Project works to eliminate epidemic meningitis as a public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa through the advancement of a meningococcal conjugate vaccine. The digest offers news on vaccine development, clinical and surveillance activities, epidemiologic research, and vaccine introduction.

Publication date: 2013

Region: Africa

Part of series: E-newsletters

This fact sheet describes PATH's enteric vaccine project from a technical perspective. It includes an overview of PATH's vaccine development portfolio, research activities, and partners to support the development of effective and affordable vaccines against Shigella and enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, the leading bacterial causes of diarrhea, for children in the developing world.

Publication date: June 2011

Region: Global

Part of series: Diarrheal disease fact sheets

In consideration of the volatile global economy, the growing costs of airfreight, and the risk associated with diminished air cargo capacity, project Optimize evaluated ocean freight as a potentially secure and economic alternative method to transport vaccines. This document describes the project’s methodology, findings, and recommendations.

Publication date: January 2013

Region: Global

The Op.ti.mize e-newsletter is a quarterly publication that highlights advances and innovations in health care logistics, technologies, and policy. Developed by project Optimize, a World Health Organization and PATH collaboration, this newsletter provides an overview of Optimize’s current activities and areas of focus.

Publication date: 2013

Region: Global

Part of series: E-newsletters

This article, published in Expert Reviews (Expert Rev. Vaccines 8(5), 547-557; May 2009), reviews approaches being used to develop thermostable vaccine formulations that are resistant to damage caused by freezing or excessive heat and could reduce dependence on the cold chain. The article discusses the challenges associated with the implementation of these novel formulations as well as the potential benefits of protecting vaccines from damage caused by breaks in the cold chain.

Author: Chen D, Kristensen D

Publication date: May 2009

Region: Global

Project Optimize is collaborating with the Vietnamese National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology on a series of activities designed to assess the opportunities and needs for strengthening the immunization system in Vietnam. This document reports the results of assessments of the vaccine supply chain in Vietnam, completed in March 2010.

Publication date: March 2010

Region: Asia

This document provides a brief overview of the Optimize project’s strategy for developing delivery systems that are as advanced and innovative as the vaccines they support. Project Optimize, a collaboration between the World Health Organization and PATH, has been given a unique mandate to think far into the future: to put technological and scientific advances to work, helping define the ideal characteristics and specifications for health products; and to create a vaccine supply chain that is flexible and robust enough to handle an increasingly large and costly portfolio of vaccines.

Publication date: October 2009

Region: Global

This report presents the results of demonstration projects and other activities undertaken in Albania as part of a partnership between project Optimize (a collaboration between the World Health Organization and PATH) and the Albanian Institute of Public Health. The partnership aimed to demonstrate innovations, such as an online immunization registry and remote alarm system in the cold chain, that can help meet the demands of an increasingly large and costly portfolio of vaccines.

Author: Bino S, Nelaj E, Mesi A, Grevendonk J

Publication date: January 2013

Region: Global

Part of series: Project Optimize country reports

Project Optimize, a collaboration between the World Health Organization and PATH, has been given a unique mandate to think far into the future: to put technological and scientific advances to work, helping define the ideal characteristics and specifications for health products; and to create a vaccine supply chain that is flexible and robust enough to handle an increasingly large and costly portfolio of vaccines. This brochure provides an overview of Optimize's areas of focus and activities.

Publication date: August 2009

Region: Global

This report presents the results of demonstration projects and other activities undertaken in Senegal from 2009 to 2012 as part of a partnership between project Optimize (a collaboration between the World Health Organization and PATH) and the Senegalese Ministry of Health. The activities aimed to demonstrate innovations in the supply chain that can help meet the demands of an increasingly large and costly portfolio of vaccines.

Publication date: February 2013

Region: Africa

Part of series: Project Optimize country reports

This report presents the results and findings of three demonstration projects undertaken in Tunisia as part of a partnership between project Optimize and the Tunisian Ministry of Health. Between 2009 and 2012, the partnership aimed to demonstrate innovations in the supply chain that can help the national immunization program meet the demands of an increasingly large and costly portfolio of vaccines.

Publication date: April 2013

Region: Africa

Part of series: Project Optimize country reports

This report presents the results of demonstration projects and other activities undertaken in Vietnam as part of a partnership between project Optimize (a collaboration between the World Health Organization and PATH) and Vietnam’s Ministry of Health. The activities aimed to demonstrate innovations in the supply chain that can help meet the demands of an increasingly large and costly portfolio of vaccines. For a summary of Optimize’s activities conducted with Vietnam’s National Expanded Program on Immunization, see Summary of Optimize Activities Conducted With Vietnam's National Expanded Programme on Immunization.

Publication date: January 2013

Region: Asia

Part of series: Project Optimize country reports

This fact sheet aims to raise awareness about oral rehydration therapy to rehydrate people—particularly infants and children—who have lost fluids because of diarrhea. One in a set of introductory resources, it provides stakeholders and policymakers in the world’s poorest countries with crucial information on a proven intervention in the fight against diarrheal disease.

Publication date: January 2008

Region: Global

Part of series: Diarrheal disease fact sheets

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 four districts of Vietnam.

Publication date: 2006

Region: Asia

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

This project Optimize document provides supply chain managers in low- and middle-income countries with an overview of the potential benefits of outsourcing components of their vaccine logistics systems to the private sector. It also provides practical advice on determining whether outsourcing is a viable option.

Publication date: September 2012

Region: Global

The GEOVAC software application is a tool designed to help personnel of regional level centers of public health and the National Center for Disease Control in Georgia process a large flow of immunization-related data in much less time than the previous (manual) system. This document illustrates GEOVAC functions, relating them to the features of the upgraded Georgian immunization information system and demonstrating what it can offer immunization managers in the decision making process. It is designed primarily for policymakers in countries planning to strengthen their immunization and/or surveillance systems, donor organizations that can support such reforms, and agencies working in these technical areas.

Author: Luchitsky A; Romanyuk G

Publication date: 2004

Region: Eastern Europe