Resources

The acquisition of high-value, complex medical equipment poses significant strategic and operational challenges. These stem not only from the upfront investment required but also from the infrastructure, human resources, and ongoing operational costs necessary to ensure sustained and effective use.Alternative ownership models, such as leasing, can help ensure essential medical equipment remains functional, maintained, and available over its lifecycle. By shifting some or all responsibilities of equipment ownership and management to the private sector, leasing can alleviate the burden on ministries of health, introduce predictable financing mechanisms, and potentially improve equipment uptime. This guide provides a structured framework to support decision-making on when and where leasing may offer advantages over direct purchase and ownership.

This report summarizes PATH’s supply chain analyses for critical respiratory care equipment and related products, highlighting key gaps, challenges, and opportunities for improvement. It provides background and recommendations for strengthening supply chain systems, and explores alternative models to improve reliability, affordability, and sustainability. Drawing on PATH’s work across consumables, accessories, spare parts, piping systems, oxygen cylinders, pressure swing adsorption plants, and liquid oxygen, the report synthesizes insights to inform strategies that ensure continuous access to life‑saving respiratory care in resource‑constrained settings.

Medical devices are a critical but often overlooked component of effective facility-based care, such as medical oxygen therapy. Medical devices have unique characteristics that make them difficult to manage, particularly in low-resource settings. For instance, devices can serve multiple clinical uses across different health areas, complicating ownership and funding responsibilities. They also often require extensive training, ongoing preventive maintenance, and a reliable supply of specialized parts and accessories.This fact sheet highlights PATH's continued focus on improving access to respiratory care and broader medical devices—building on previous research and initiatives under the Market Dynamics for Medical Devices (MD4MD), Scaling Access to Lifesaving Equipment (SCALE), and Strengthening Oxygen Utilization and Respiratory Care Ecosystems (SOURCE) projects. Building on this extensive foundation, PATH will explore and scale innovative business and operating models, while strengthening underlying data systems for managing medical devices and equipment.

PATH is accelerating the development of pharmaceutical injection technologies aimed at improving access, adherence, and delivery of essential medicines in resource-constrained settings through product innovation. Long-acting pharmaceuticals often require parenteral delivery, are viscous, have large or non-standard dose volumes, may not be compatible with standard device materials, and are expensive to manufacture. Innovative delivery devices can help address critical diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, hepatitis B and C, rabies, Ebola, and other neglected tropical diseases, as well as rising noncommunicable diseases such as cancer and diabetes. With that aim, PATH is identifying suitable packaging and delivery solutions that can reduce costs, improve access, and maximize impact of long-acting pharmaceuticals.

Women’s health and well-being are the cornerstone of family health, yet women remain chronically underserved, driven by fragmented health systems, misaligned policies, underinvestment in women‑centered research, and limited access to lifesaving services and products. Investing in women's and family health and the systems that serve them leads to transformative gains, leading to healthier communities, and economies.As a pillar of our approach to enhancing primary health care, PATH has been partnering with countries to advance health equity for women and families--applying a life-course driven approach and integrated people-centered care to increase access to high-quality products and services for women and their families that prioritize dignity, informed choice, and autonomy.This brief summarizes core tenets of PATH's approach to advancing integrated life-course care for women and their families and spotlights examples of our expertise across our maternal, newborn, and child health and sexual and reproductive health portfolio.