Program highlights
Three West African countries report record low numbers of confirmed meningitis A cases. Six months after the introduction of MenAfriVac™, a new meningitis A vaccine, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger report the lowest number of meningitis A cases ever recorded. Burkina Faso, the first country to introduce the vaccine nationwide, registered just 4 cases, down from 25,000 during the 2007 epidemic season. Vaccination campaigns will be finalized in Mali and Niger at the end of this year, and new campaigns will begin in Cameroon, Chad, and Nigeria, providing a contiguous block of immunized populations across the heart of the meningitis belt. The Meningitis Vaccine Project, a partnership between PATH and the World Health Organization (WHO), developed the vaccine specifically for use in Africa.
Partners look to build on experience of PATH-led nutrition project in Zambia. The Infant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN) Project held an event in Lusaka, Zambia, to mark the completion of its activities in the country. Panelists from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the United Nations Children’s Fund, and the national government encouraged more than 100 stakeholders to build upon IYCN’s work in Zambia as a model for future nutrition programming.
PATH to join public and private sectors in Vietnam to control the spread of tuberculosis (TB). PATH will join the public and private sectors to improve TB case detection and treatment in nine of Vietnam’s provinces and will support advocacy, communication, and social mobilization activities. This new work will be funded through a sub-grant from Vietnam’s National TB Control Program, which is supported by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. This is the first time a ministry of health has funded an international nongovernmental organization (NGO) to implement activities on its behalf.
Solar refrigeration technology to be tested for vaccine storage in Vietnam. Battery failure often impedes use of solar refrigerators in immunization programs. Project Optimize, a collaboration between PATH and WHO, will field-test the Sure Chill™ refrigerator system, a technology manufactured by True Energy that is powered by thermal energy storage instead of a battery. Sure Chill™ systems will be installed at three health centers in Vietnam to determine how they work in the field, what effect they have on cold-chain capacity, and how they affect energy cost and consumption.
PATH to develop new meningitis vaccine. Building on the accomplishments of the Meningitis Vaccine Project, which developed a meningitis A vaccine that has been introduced in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, PATH will develop an affordable, thermostable, pentavalent conjugate meningococcal vaccine over the next five years with funding from the UK Department for International Development. The new vaccine will cover five serotype groups—A, C, W, X, and Y—and will be suitable for use in Africa.
Three West African countries report record low numbers of confirmed meningitis A cases. Six months after the introduction of MenAfriVac™, a new meningitis A vaccine, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger report the lowest number of meningitis A cases ever recorded. Burkina Faso, the first country to introduce the vaccine nationwide, registered just 4 cases, down from 25,000 during the 2007 epidemic season. Vaccination campaigns will be finalized in Mali and Niger at the end of this year, and new campaigns will begin in Cameroon, Chad, and Nigeria, providing a contiguous block of immunized populations across the heart of the meningitis belt. The Meningitis Vaccine Project, a partnership between PATH and the World Health Organization (WHO), developed the vaccine specifically for use in Africa.
Partners look to build on experience of PATH-led nutrition project in Zambia. The Infant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN) Project held an event in Lusaka, Zambia, to mark the completion of its activities in the country. Panelists from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the United Nations Children’s Fund, and the national government encouraged more than 100 stakeholders to build upon IYCN’s work in Zambia as a model for future nutrition programming.
PATH to join public and private sectors in Vietnam to control the spread of tuberculosis (TB). PATH will join the public and private sectors to improve TB case detection and treatment in nine of Vietnam’s provinces and will support advocacy, communication, and social mobilization activities. This new work will be funded through a sub-grant from Vietnam’s National TB Control Program, which is supported by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. This is the first time a ministry of health has funded an international nongovernmental organization (NGO) to implement activities on its behalf.
Solar refrigeration technology to be tested for vaccine storage in Vietnam. Battery failure often impedes use of solar refrigerators in immunization programs. Project Optimize, a collaboration between PATH and WHO, will field-test the Sure Chill™ refrigerator system, a technology manufactured by True Energy that is powered by thermal energy storage instead of a battery. Sure Chill™ systems will be installed at three health centers in Vietnam to determine how they work in the field, what effect they have on cold-chain capacity, and how they affect energy cost and consumption.
PATH to develop new meningitis vaccine. Building on the accomplishments of the Meningitis Vaccine Project, which developed a meningitis A vaccine that has been introduced in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, PATH will develop an affordable, thermostable, pentavalent conjugate meningococcal vaccine over the next five years with funding from the UK Department for International Development. The new vaccine will cover five serotype groups—A, C, W, X, and Y—and will be suitable for use in Africa.
Food mapping website launched by InterAction features PATH project data. InterAction launched the Food Security Aid Map, an interactive online mapping tool that visually displays food security and agriculture projects implemented by US-based NGOs across the world. The tool includes data from several of PATH’s nutrition projects. Data relayed through the tool will be used to support advocacy efforts and to inform future programming.
New reference serum measures immune responses to pneumococcal vaccine. PATH participated in a working group led by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that recently completed the development of a new human pneumococcal reference serum, 007sp. The 007sp reference serum provides a standardized reference point for measuring immune responses to pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) and replaces the nearly exhausted supply of its predecessor, 89SF. The new reference serum is currently being shipped by the FDA to sites for testing existing and newly developed PCVs.
Gender focus brought to health programming in Chongqing, China. National-, city-, and district-level officials from China’s Family Planning Association attended a PATH-led meeting in Chongqing, China, which closed our gender and health project. The project promoted gender equity among thousands of young male vocational school students and factory workers and garnered support for gender-related programming in Chongqing.
New resources
A new issue of Directions in Global Health features PATH’s work related to vaccines and immunization.
The second annual report from the Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC) documents promising policy actions taken by the US Government over the past year and offers recommendations for how policymakers can continue to lead improvements in global health.
Three new resources describe IYCN's work in Africa: a fact sheet on IYCN's initiatives in Zambia, a report on infant feeding problems in Malawi, and a brochure on Nigeria's national recommendations for infant feeding and HIV.
A fact sheet describes the impact of global and national investments on curbing malaria incidence.
A report shares findings from a PATH-led project that tested five household water treatment and storage products among low-income users in Andhra Pradesh, India.
A brief describes why new mothers in Malawi purchased and used or discontinued use of WaterGuard, a water-treatment product made available to pregnant women at antenatal care clinics.
A series of documents focus on different aspects of the injectable contraceptive depo-subQ provera 104™ in the Uniject™ injection system: logistics and waste management, home-based administration, global experience and evidence on the use of Uniject™, and strategic demand models developed for the product in Kenya, Malawi, Pakistan, Rwanda, and Senegal.
A report summarizes the human papillomavirus vaccination program implemented in Peru by PATH, Instituto de Investigación Nutricional, and the Ministry of Health.
Advocacy and policy notes
GHTC hosts launch event in the Senate. An event hosted by the GHTC, which is housed at PATH, highlighted the need for and role of new global health products, such as vaccines, drugs, diagnostics, and microbicides. Kerri-Ann Jones, assistant secretary of state for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, served as the keynote speaker. Panelists included Alex Dehgan, the science and technology adviser to USAID’s administrator; former US Representative Michael Castle; and Elizabeth Bukusi, chief research officer and deputy director at the Kenya Medical Research Institute.
PATH testifies before Congress for health technology funding. Rachel Wilson, PATH’s director of policy and advocacy, testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, calling for product development and delivery at USAID and asking members to support President Barack Obama’s global health requests for the 2012 federal budget. She highlighted USAID’s role in addressing conditions and diseases in the developing world through new health products, particularly its support for the HealthTech program and malaria vaccines.
Senators speak at congressional reception co-sponsored by PATH on ending malaria. Senators Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Christopher Coons (D-DE) spoke at the Champions to End Malaria congressional reception. Both senators co-chair the Senate Working Group on Malaria. The Champions to End Malaria campaign recognizes individuals around the world who have raised substantial resources and awareness for ending malaria.
Opinion piece calls on Congress to support global health research. An opinion editorial published in Roll Call makes the case for continued US investments in global health research and development. The authors of the article—Michael Castle, former US Representative from Delaware, and Kaitlin Christenson, director of the GHTC—call these investments “a rare platform of bipartisanship.”
Representative Lowey calls attention to RTS,S and microbicides in congressional hearing. Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY) emphasized microbicides and the malaria vaccine candidate RTS,S as successful results of “continued investments in the fight against infectious disease” at a hearing on President Obama’s 2012 budget requests for global health. Microbicides and RTS,S have been advanced through two PATH-led initiatives: the Global Campaign for Microbicides and the Malaria Vaccine Initiative. Representative Lowey is the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs
A report shares findings from a PATH-led project that tested five household water treatment and storage products among low-income users in Andhra Pradesh, India.
A brief describes why new mothers in Malawi purchased and used or discontinued use of WaterGuard, a water-treatment product made available to pregnant women at antenatal care clinics.
A series of documents focus on different aspects of the injectable contraceptive depo-subQ provera 104™ in the Uniject™ injection system: logistics and waste management, home-based administration, global experience and evidence on the use of Uniject™, and strategic demand models developed for the product in Kenya, Malawi, Pakistan, Rwanda, and Senegal.
A report summarizes the human papillomavirus vaccination program implemented in Peru by PATH, Instituto de Investigación Nutricional, and the Ministry of Health.
Advocacy and policy notes
GHTC hosts launch event in the Senate. An event hosted by the GHTC, which is housed at PATH, highlighted the need for and role of new global health products, such as vaccines, drugs, diagnostics, and microbicides. Kerri-Ann Jones, assistant secretary of state for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, served as the keynote speaker. Panelists included Alex Dehgan, the science and technology adviser to USAID’s administrator; former US Representative Michael Castle; and Elizabeth Bukusi, chief research officer and deputy director at the Kenya Medical Research Institute.
PATH testifies before Congress for health technology funding. Rachel Wilson, PATH’s director of policy and advocacy, testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, calling for product development and delivery at USAID and asking members to support President Barack Obama’s global health requests for the 2012 federal budget. She highlighted USAID’s role in addressing conditions and diseases in the developing world through new health products, particularly its support for the HealthTech program and malaria vaccines.
Senators speak at congressional reception co-sponsored by PATH on ending malaria. Senators Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Christopher Coons (D-DE) spoke at the Champions to End Malaria congressional reception. Both senators co-chair the Senate Working Group on Malaria. The Champions to End Malaria campaign recognizes individuals around the world who have raised substantial resources and awareness for ending malaria.
Opinion piece calls on Congress to support global health research. An opinion editorial published in Roll Call makes the case for continued US investments in global health research and development. The authors of the article—Michael Castle, former US Representative from Delaware, and Kaitlin Christenson, director of the GHTC—call these investments “a rare platform of bipartisanship.”
Representative Lowey calls attention to RTS,S and microbicides in congressional hearing. Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY) emphasized microbicides and the malaria vaccine candidate RTS,S as successful results of “continued investments in the fight against infectious disease” at a hearing on President Obama’s 2012 budget requests for global health. Microbicides and RTS,S have been advanced through two PATH-led initiatives: the Global Campaign for Microbicides and the Malaria Vaccine Initiative. Representative Lowey is the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs