Interventions to regulate the temperature of a newborn are critical. They must be simple, easy to use, easy to maintain, culturally appropriate, and effective. This report details PATH’s exploration of newborn thermal care devices and evaluates them for particular health settings. The report includes a product inventory, device evaluation matrices, and recommendations for future development of thermal care devices.

Publication date: December 2009

Region: Global

This issue of PATH Today features a profile of PATH donor Miriam Sevy and her travels with PATH to Kenya, information about our work in Kenya, and an update on our new headquarters building in downtown Seattle. The issue also highlights Ultra Rice® winning the Tech Award, PATH's profile in a new book about the importance of individual donors, and the year-end matching challenge.

Publication date: December 2009

Region: Global

Part of series: PATH Today

The purpose of this project Optimize survey was to obtain input from stakeholders within the Expanded Programme on Immunization in Vietnam about issues and perceptions related to the storage, distribution, and delivery of the current and potential options for human papillomavirus vaccine presentation and packaging.

Publication date: December 2009

Region: Asia

PATH’s Safe Water Project is exploring the effectiveness of commercial strategies for providing household water treatment and storage products to low-income consumers in Cambodia and other developing countries. This project brief summarizes the results of three studies—a consumer study, a product scan, and an analysis of distribution channels—conducted from April to December 2008 to inform the development and implementation of a safe water pilot project in Cambodia.

Author: Kols A

Publication date: December 2009

Region: Asia

A description of a viral RNA extraction and stabilization platform. Presented at: The 5th Annual World Healthcare Innovation and Technology Congress (WHIT v.5.0), November 8, 2009; Alexandria, VA.

Author: Beddoe AG, Hubbard L, Stevens D, et al

Publication date: November 2009

Region: Global

A report on work aimed to determine the main bacterial enteric pathogens causing diarrhea in children treated in emergency rooms in Fortaleza, Ceara, Brazil. Presented at: 6th World Congress of the World Society for Pediatric Infectious Diseases, November 21, 2009; Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Author: Lima I, Soares AM, Silva-Filho JQ, Weigl BH, Rey LC, Lima A

Publication date: November 2009

Region: Global

A visual display charting some diagnostic technologies (e.g., PCR, ELISA, Lumora, TwistDx, and nonintstrumented nucleic acid amplification (NINA) on axes of performance and reach (the ability to function in low-resource areas).  Presented at PATH, January 10, 2010; Seattle, WA.

Author: Weigl B

Publication date: November 2009

Region: Global

This fact sheet provides information about the use of the hormone oxytocin in the Uniject device to prevent postpartum hemorrhage. It summarizes the benefits of using this innovative solution and also provides a success story based on a pilot study conducted in Mali.

Publication date: November 2009

Region: Global

Improving iron status among infants and young children is of continued concern in low- to middle-income countries. This article, published in The Journal of Nutrition, reports on a double-blind, randomized trial among mildly anemic children in Brazil that compared use of rice fortified with micronized ferric pyrophosphate using the Ultra Rice technology with identical nonfortified rice. The study found that, in populations where young children are routinely fed approximately 100 grams of cooked rice daily, fortifying rice with iron may improve iron status at least as well as providing free iron drops.

Author: Beinner M, Velasquez-Meléndez G, Pessoa MC, Greiner T

Publication date: November 2009

Region: Global

The Optimize project, a collaboration between PATH and the World Health Organization, commissioned this white paper to examine the issues influencing vaccine producer willingness to advance, adopt, and commercialize value-added technologies for vaccines for low-income and lower-middle-income country markets.

Author: Gilchrist S

Publication date: November 2009

Region: Global

The Prevention of Postpartum Hemorrhage Initiative (POPPHI), funded by USAID, developed this document to summarize the projects and activities that took place over its five-year history. The report focuses on the challenge of postpartum hemorrhage and the mechanisms developed by POPPHI to address it. It also provides an overview of the tools, including resources and policy changes, that were accomplished. Finally, the document also highlights specific work done by PATH, its partners, and the POPPHI team in scale-up and small grant countries. The report is available as one large file or as four smaller files for easier downloading.

Publication date: November 2009

Region: Global

Under the Making Medical Injections Safer project, PATH has supported ministries of health and environment to develop the systems needed for effective health care waste management. This paper describes the process, tools, and strategies used to successfully engage PEPFAR partners in Uganda and Nigeria to improve health care waste management.

Publication date: October 2009

Region: Africa

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 briefing paper underscores the burden of rotavirus and highlights the promise of vaccines to combat the virus as the global health community prepares for worldwide introduction.  

Publication date: September 2009

Region: Global

This compilation contains key references and resources to aid program planners in the introduction of oxytocin in the Uniject™ prefilled injection device.

Publication date: September 2009

Region: Global

This edition of PATH Today highlights work to improve children’s health in Nicaragua and Kenya and spotlights PATH's safe water project in Korogocho, a slum near Nairobi, Kenya. It also includes brief updates on the 2009 Breakfast for Global Health, workplace giving, an influenza vaccine study in Africa, and PATH's 2008 annual report.

Publication date: September 2009

Region: Global

Part of series: PATH Today

Commercial markets are a viable model for selling some products to the very poor in Cambodia. But can household water treatment and storage products be provided in the same way? This fact sheet discusses the results of an analysis of distribution and marketing channels in Cambodia, conducted by PATH, to help answer that question.

Publication date: September 2009

Region: Asia

PATH conducted a qualitative study of consumers in four regions of Cambodia to inform potential interventions to increase access to household water treatment and storage products through the country's commercial sector. This fact sheet summarizes the findings from this consumer research study.

Publication date: September 2009

Region: Asia

Commercial markets are a viable model for selling some products to the very poor in Vietnam. But can household water treatment and storage products be provided in the same way? This fact sheet discusses the results of an analysis of distribution and marketing channels in Vietnam that PATH conducted to help answer that question.

Publication date: September 2009

Region: Asia

PATH conducted a qualitative study of consumers in four regions of the country to inform potential interventions to increase access to household water treatment and storage products through the commercial sector in Vietnam. This fact sheet summarizes the findings from this consumer research study.

Publication date: September 2009

Region: Asia