Last November, on a trip to India with PATH supporters, we visited a village in Bihar. Bihar is one of India’s poorest states, with very high rates of maternal and newborn mortality and a literacy rate of just 64 percent. We traveled out to the Kurkuri village clinic, where dozens of people were waiting for immunizations. At the front of the line was a petite, white-haired woman, holding her 3-year-old granddaughter Meni.
I’ll never forget what she said.
She said she was terrified of Japanese encephalitis and wanted to protect Meni with the vaccine. It may seem simple, but by vaccinating Meni she was doing more than protecting her against Japanese encephalitis; she was advocating for her granddaughter’s future.
Thanks to her grandmother, Meni will have a greater opportunity to achieve her full potential. And before long, Meni and her peers will create new opportunities for those who follow them. It’s true for all of us: by joining together, we can reach even higher.
In a village clinic, a little girl named Meni receives a lifesaving immunization against Japanese encephalitis. Photo: PATH/Lynn Heinisch.
An extraordinary time, one that’s full of possibilities
This is an extraordinary time. We are part of a global health movement that is changing the course of history. In the last 25 years, the world has nearly cut in half the number of women dying in childbirth and children dying under the age of five. Last year alone, PATH reached 160 million people in nearly 70 countries.
I often use the phrase “bending the curve” to describe the opportunity to hasten this progress. Picture a descending graph line that shows a consistent drop in the number of unnecessary deaths, particularly those of women and children. Although this line has been steadily declining over the last 25 years, PATH and are our partners are poised to make the line plunge more steeply.
This is critical because the numbers of people dying unnecessarily are still too high. A child dies every five seconds, mostly from preventable causes like diarrhea, pneumonia, or newborn infections. And every two minutes a woman dies from complications during pregnancy or childbirth.
The need is great, the opportunity is now
The only way we will bend the curve—is by doing something big.
To increase our impact and transform the lives of women and children around the world, we’ve launched a campaign that will raise at least $100 million to accelerate global health innovations.
Reach Campaign: a bold push for better health, worldwide
The Reach Campaign will spur dramatic health gains by investing in the next generation of health innovations. We’re focusing on four areas that target the greatest need and the greatest opportunity for progress. All of these are areas in which PATH has expertise.
- Malaria: from elimination to eradication. Some 600,000 people die each year of malaria, most of them children. PATH is leading the way toward the elimination of malaria with new vaccines, treatments, and diagnostics.
- Women’s and reproductive health: healthy women mean healthy communities. We’re targeting solutions for noncommunicable diseases which disproportionately affect poor women, such as cervical and breast cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.
- Maternal and newborn health: a healthy start. We’ll focus on the time from pregnancy to a child’s second birthday. In Ghana, we’ve helped the government train health workers to address the key causes of newborn death and ensure facilities are equipped with emergency supplies.
- Child health: a life of possibility. We’ll expand access to treatment for diarrheal disease and pneumonia. And we’ll increase efforts that improve nutrition and sanitation and promote early childhood development.
Together, with the global community, we are bending that curve
The Reach Campaign will help us dramatically increase the pace at which good ideas become solutions reaching the people who need them. With our partners and allies, we will eliminate malaria. We will protect mothers and newborns. We will save the lives of children.
And, together, we’ll all reach even higher.
We have the potential to achieve tremendous change by building a more equitable and just world, where health is available to all, no matter where they live. With your support, PATH will accelerate innovation that can improve the chance of a healthy life for everyone.
To learn more, check out our Reach Campaign.