Program highlights
 
Partnership advances rice fortification in Brazil. PATH has partnered with the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) to boost rice fortification and tackle malnutrition using our micronutrient-rich Ultra Rice® technology. PATH and GAIN are working to bring fortified rice to millions of people in Brazil who are vulnerable to malnutrition and, in doing so, create a replicable introduction model that can be used globally.
 
Malaria research and development has made tremendous progress in recent years—but gains are fragile, report finds. A new report from the Roll Back Malaria Partnership charts the global community’s advancement toward malaria research and development (R&D) goals and finds that funding for malaria R&D has almost quintupled. However, modest increases are still needed to sustain progress through the end of the decade. The report was authored by Policy Cures and commissioned by the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative.
 
Vietnam province protects a record number of infants from hepatitis B. More than 90 percent of newborns received an important birth dose of hepatitis B vaccine in Hai Duong province between December and June. The results were part of a pilot project by PATH and the National Expanded Program on Immunization in Vietnam to increase coverage rates against the life-threatening virus. Building on these results, PATH will scale up the project in two other provinces. Read more about how we are increasing birth-dose rates in Vietnam.
 
Conference raises international profile of reproductive health commodities. Representatives from 56 countries convened in Ethiopia in June to reinvigorate the effort to ensure people everywhere have access to supplies for reproductive health. The meeting generated pledges of financial support and a commitment from Merck to reduce the price of its contraceptive implant, Implanon®. Attendees also set priorities for achieving commodity security in the coming decade through a call to action. The conference was hosted by the Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition, whose secretariat is managed by PATH.
 
Vietnam approves new guidelines for cervical cancer screening and treatment. A new national policy builds on evidence from PATH’s work to strengthen cervical cancer prevention in Vietnam, where the deadly cancer is on the rise. The guidelines offer health care providers the best available knowledge to properly address the disease and save thousands of women’s lives. Read more about PATH’s cervical cancer work in Vietnam.
 
More families in Cambodia have access to safe water. PATH and our partners have created a new model for selling and distributing ceramic water purifiers to rural residents in need of clean drinking water. In collaboration with VisionFund Cambodia, a microfinance institution, and Hydrologic, which produces the filters, we have increased the number sold and are working to ensure poor families have reliable safe water.
 
Sweetpotato project on course to improve nutrition for pregnant women and their children. More than 1,300 women are participating in a project in Western Kenya that aims to improve their health and the health of their infants with vitamin A–rich orange-fleshed sweetpotatoes. The project, in which PATH is a partner, works with health workers, farmers, and agriculture extension agents to provide women with health and nutrition education and sweetpotato vines that they can grow and consume for themselves and their children.
 
Project finds LED microscopy more effective, affordable for diagnosing tuberculosis (TB) in China. Interim findings from a demonstration project conducted by PATH and our partners in China show that using LED microscopes versus conventional light microscopes can increase TB detection rates and significantly lower the cost per test. Chinese health officials will use these results to determine whether to introduce and scale up LED microscopy in the country, which has one of the world’s highest burdens of TB. Read more about PATH’s work on TB.
 
PATH explores vaccine options to protect children from respiratory infection. PATH staff are beginning to investigate possible vaccine development strategies against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), one of the most important causes of acute lower respiratory infection in young children. RSV is responsible for more than 30 million infections each year and up to 199,000 deaths in children under five, especially in low-resource countries. Learn more about our approach to vaccine development.
 
New resources
 

PATH’s 2010 online annual report showcases our accomplishments in helping people around the world have a chance at a healthy life.

A fact sheet describes PATH’s approach to using information technology to strengthen health systems.

PATH’s Vaccine Resource Library now features new sections on cold chain logistics and technologies, delivery technologies, presentation and packaging, and vaccine stabilization.

Five landscape analyses highlight ongoing work by the Optimize project and our partners toward a long-term vision for immunization supply systems.

A literature review looks at home-based administration, including self-injection, of the injectable contraceptive depo-subQ provera 104™ in the Uniject™ injection system.

A fact sheet highlights PATH’s work to address rotavirus, the leading cause of severe diarrheal disease.

New web pages explain PATH’s work to bring safe water solutions to low-resource households, including our design strategy for household water treatment and safe storage products, test strips for drinking water, standardized manufacturing practices for ceramic water filters, and results of a pilot bicycle entrepreneur distribution model. A project brief summarizes findings from research promoting home water treatment through antenatal clinics in Malawi.

 

A fact sheet describes PATH’s work to develop vaccines against Shigella and enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, the leading bacterial causes of diarrhea, for children in the developing world.
 
Advocacy and policy notes
 
Capitol Hill event highlights the urgent need for new vaccines. Vaccines are some of the best investments that governments and other entities can make in global health, said panelists at a June forum in the US Senate. The event, hosted by the Global Health Technologies Coalition and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, encouraged the US government, nongovernmental organizations, and private industry to prioritize new vaccines, increase access to existing vaccines, and ensure the sustainability of US global health programs.

Congressional briefing spotlights simple solutions for saving lives. PATH’s president and CEO, Dr. Christopher J. Elias, moderated a discussion with a panel of experts on the role of public-private partnerships in creating innovative, affordable global health solutions. Opening remarks came from US Representative Albio Sires (D-NJ), who recently introduced a bill that would give the US Agency for International Development legislative authority to support the research and development of new health technologies.

Vaccines not only save lives but dollars, too, panelists say. Dr. Marc LaForce, director of the Meningitis Vaccine Project (MVP)—a partnership between PATH and the World Health Organization—joined other panelists in Washington, DC, to make the case for the cost-effectiveness of vaccines in global health. LaForce explained how the recent successful introduction of a meningitis vaccine in Burkina Faso and future introduction in seven other countries could save as much as US$300 million over the next decade. Read a blog post about the event.

Ultra Rice is a registered US trademark of Bon Dente International, Inc.

MenAfriVac is a trademark of Serum Institute of India Ltd.