Resources

On 14 October, 2024, PATH co-hosted a forum to begin the conversation on financing the remaining gaps in access to medical oxygen. The event highlighted the critical role of sustained financing and donor commitments, following the launch of the oxygen investment case commissioned by the Global Oxygen Alliance (GO2AL) and the Lancet Global Health Commission Report on Oxygen Access—and ahead of upcoming funding rounds from international donors.

This high-level webinar was part of the VacciNations Campaign, bringing together policymakers, technical teams, key decision-makers and civil society organizations from the African region and beyond.It focused on immunization financing and accountability, and what is needed to ramp up efforts towards the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 3 targets. The presentations included findings from recent studies on immunization financing, and identified strategies to improve funding and accountability mechanisms to achieve the 2030 SDG 3 targets.

Many countries struggle to provide high-quality primary health care and achieve universal health coverage because of a shortage of trained clinicians. Consequently, citizens experience a variable standard of care depending on the level of training and experience of the health care workers in their community. Appropriate and user-friendly tools are needed that can provide on-demand, expert-level information and support to frontline health care workers to standardize care and treat more patients effectively.Can artificial intelligence-assisted tools support better primary health care delivery? Artificial intelligence (AI)-based tools are increasingly being used to assist health care workers with diagnosis and treatment. These include large language model (LLM)-enabled tools that can provide expert-level medical knowledge and advice in response to health care workers’ queries. Because LLMs have the ability to be trained to think like a local medical expert, continuously learn, and provide responses to a wide range of queries, this technology is seen to have the potential to enhance clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) and improve the quality of primary health care.

Global Health: Science and Practice journal articleWe document the effort over the last 30 years to respond to the call by women advocates at the International Conference on Population and Development for more woman-initiated single or dual-purpose contraceptive methods by developing the Caya contoured diaphragm, an innovative diaphragm designed to meet the needs of women and their partners and expand options for nonhormonal barrier contraception. We describe the complex and interrelated set of activities undertaken to develop the product using a human-centered design process and how we are working to create a corollary sustainable market. This review includes the evidence generated around improved acceptability among couples in low- and middle-income countries and depicts challenges and practical actions on how to dispel misconceptions about diaphragm use. Importantly, we share programmatic lessons learned on increasing universal access to this new sexual and reproductive health technology. Following our new model for increasing access to new and underutilized methods, Caya is now registered and being marketed in nearly 40 countries worldwide.

PATH collaborated with the Ministry of Health in Malawi to create an essential spare parts list, determine annual spare part quantities needed, and estimate the cost for the spare parts to facilitate budget and procurement decisions.This analysis suggests that Malawi needs to stock between 23,965 and 73,581 units of spare parts annually to support 12 respiratory care medical device types. The range is driven by the frequency of replacing spare parts, and the variation of spare part costs from local distributors. While providing valuable insights into the spare part requirements for respiratory care devices in Malawi, the study underscores the importance of adequate budgeting and inventory management. The study's findings highlight a significant demand for spare parts within health facilities, suggesting a need for a special annual budget allocation.