Resources

In Myanmar, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) have been recognized as a public health priority in the National Health Plan (NHP) (2011–2016). The NCD screening Response led by Community (NCR) project in Myanmar is dedicated to tackling the high prevalence of NCDs in the country. The project aims to enhance access to prevention, treatment, and care for NCDs through local engagement and the utilization of digital health solutions.PATH is providing valuable technical support and capacity-building to health care providers and community volunteers, focusing on NCDs and mental health. PATH is also providing comprehensive training programs for community volunteers, empowering them to conduct screenings and make referrals for NCD patients at the community level.In this brief, we talk about how improved access to prevention, treatment, and care for NCDs as part of PHC through local ownership and engagement guided by digital health and technical support has reduced premature morbidity and mortality due to NCDs.

In early 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) Executive Board recommended to the seventy-sixth World Health Assembly the adoption of the resolution on increasing access to medical oxygen. The draft decision was submitted by Uganda and co-sponsored by Australia, Bangladesh, the Central African Republic, the European Union and its 27 member states, Kenya, and Turkey.This resolution recognizes and reaffirms the critical role of medical oxygen in resilient health systems planning and in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals for health. It upholds the urgency of sustaining investment in oxygen production and supply and calls on global stakeholders and national governments to continue alignment and coordination, including on policies and guidelines, technical documents, and training.

In Kenya’s Kakamega County, citizen-led social accountability projects and data-driven advocacy led by the Kakamega County Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health Civil Society Organizations Alliance (MNCH Alliance), with support from PATH, have created a sustainable model for holding local decision-makers accountable and significantly improved health outcomes and quality of care for women and children in the county.

PATH conducted a series of studies to better understand the public health value of potential Shigella vaccines and help inform decisions by international agencies, funders, vaccine developers, and national policymakers. This report focuses on the results from a market assessment on Shigella vaccines for use in traveler and military populations. It aims to provide a better understanding of the size and specific segments of these markets, as well as an evaluation of the factors that may impact demand and utilization of these vaccines. The traveler and military markets are but one segment of a larger global Shigella vaccine market which has enormous potential to impact global health among children and adults in low- and middle-income countries.

PATH’s MNCHN Asset Tracker was designed to provide advocates from civil society organizations (CSOs) with an innovative tool for data-driven decision-making. To ensure this new tool reached advocates who could benefit from it, PATH partnered with the Medicines Transparency Alliance (MeTA) Kenya, a program of the Access to Medicines Platform (ATMP), to disseminate the Asset Tracker to advocates from CSOs working in Kenya’s Lake Region Economic Bloc and train them in its use. As a result, CSO advocates have been better able to access data on MNCHN interventions in Kenya, identify gaps in the provision of services, and target their communications with decision-makers in their counties to achieve health outcomes and improve quality of care.