Resources

New vaccines given in pregnancy are licensed or in development that could not only reduce infant illness and death from high-risk diseases (e.g., respiratory syncytial virus and Group B Streptococcus), but also pave the way for maternal immunization as a broader, more integrated platform for new vaccines to come. Getting there, however, will require coordination across immunization and antenatal care programs in new ways. As such, a better understanding of maternal immunization systems readiness, implementation feasibility, and intervention acceptability across these programs is needed, particularly in low- and middle-income economic settings where diseases often hit the hardest.This fact sheet describes a research project that PATH is conducting in Ghana, Senegal, Tanzania, and Zambia to help fill these information gaps. The research is designed to generate country-specific data on decision-making drivers, feasibility, and health system/service requirements for delivering maternal vaccines routinely, efficiently, and equitably. Participants include national, sub-national, and community stakeholders across the health care hierarchy in each country. Results will be useful for informing the evidence base for new maternal vaccine delivery in Africa and beyond.

PATH has worked in South Asia for two decades, partnering with governments and local organizations to strengthen health systems. PATH began working in Bangladesh in 2003 and has since been expanding and scaling efforts to make good health possible for more people by addressing inequities in key health areas—vaccines and immunization; infectious and vector borne diseases; digital health; maternal, newborn, and child health and nutrition; and technology, innovations, and systems.

Pressure swing adsorption (PSA) plants—as the primary source of bulk medical oxygen for many health facilities—play a vital role in many countries’ medical oxygen supply systems. This report summarizes the results of an analysis that PATH—in collaboration with Build Health International, Partners in Health, and Assist International—conducted on PSA plant failures, and opportunities for improved management. It highlights common issues and causes of failure across the PSA plant life cycle—from planning and decision–making to installation, training, and operations or maintenance—and recommends ways to redress them so that decision–makers, health facility managers, suppliers, and plant operators can improve plant management.

PATH and immunization program managers in Ethiopia, Guyana, Rwanda, Senegal, Sri Lanka, and Uganda conducted a study to understand the contextual and operational factors to deliver a two-dose human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination schedule and to estimate their ongoing delivery costs, from the perspective of the health system. These six fact sheets provide focused, high-level study results from each country, including key operational findings and the financial and economic costs per dose for the countries’ HPV vaccination programs.

Concerns about costs, vaccine procurement, and vaccine delivery are among the reasons that many low- and middle-income countries have not yet introduced human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination. Reported costs of HPV vaccine delivery range widely, and most prior research evaluated costs during demonstration projects or vaccine introduction. PATH and immunization program managers in Ethiopia, Guyana, Rwanda, Senegal, Sri Lanka, and Uganda conducted a study that aimed to understand the contextual factors of HPV vaccine delivery in national immunization programs that are past the introduction years and to estimate their ongoing delivery costs, from the perspective of the health system. This brief provides a summary of the high-level results and key takeaways from the study.