Resources

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to gain momentum globally, the need to vaccinate a majority of the population is becoming critical. Already, millions of doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered across Kenya, yet many people remain hesitant to take the vaccine, slowing down the global vaccine rollout.PATH's Living Labs, Amref, Dalberg, and JSI, are a group of designers, behavioural scientists, immunisation professionals, and health service providers/implementers. In partnership, we conducted research to understand the perceptions and motivations of Kenyans with regards to the COVID-19 vaccine to help boost its uptake amongst eligible populations through targeted campaigns.

Despite the critical role that medical oxygen plays in the treatment for numerous disease areas, many health facilities still lack access to this lifesaving treatment. This situation is often attributed to the cost of oxygen and related infrastructure; in reality, oxygen access barriers are complex and rarely linked to a single factor. Understanding the prevailing business models for oxygen production, storage, distribution, and delivery can provide important context as to how and why oxygen provision is limited in many countries. Scaling up oxygen globally will require significant shifts in many of the current business models prevalent in low- and middle-income countries.COVID-19 has cast a spotlight on oxygen, a health area that has long been neglected by the global community. With this attention, it is critical that decision-makers and implementers understand the complexities of the oxygen ecosystem, the various business models that comprise it, and how they impact patient access. This brief introduces the oxygen ecosystem that business models operate within and then outlines four types of business models: bulk supply agreements, cash-and-carry filling stations, direct equipment purchases, and equipment leasing.

In West Africa and around the world, scaling up access to oxygen is one of the most effective, and critical, actions that decision-makers can take to improve health outcomes, particularly for vulnerable populations such as newborns, children, and pregnant women. The COVID-19 pandemic has further emphasized the vital role of respiratory care for patients struggling to breathe. Respiratory care requires investment in strengthening health care delivery systems, including supply management and provider training.This brief summarizes Senegal’s and Burkina Faso’s efforts toward establishing a comprehensive and sustainable oxygen system to address respiratory care needs beyond COVID-19, and demonstrates the type of support PATH can provide in this process.

PATH provides immunization support in the DRC, this is the first newsletter of 2021 detailing progress of our work.

L’établissement d’une politique robuste est indispensable à l’amélioration des résultats de santé. Trop souvent, l’action s’arrête cependant une fois la politique élaborée et adoptée. Or une politique n’est efficace que dans la mesure où elle est mise en oeuvre. Une faible exécution ne peut qu’entraver les efforts d’élargissement d’un accès équitable aux services de santé. Pour traduire les objectifs définis en résultats utiles, chaque politique doit être assortie d’un plan d’action, disposer de ressources, prévoir un effort de diffusion et être ouverte à l’adaptation.Divers outils et cadres existants décrivent en détail le processus, les apports nécessaires et les facteurs essentiels à la mise en oeuvre. Pour la plupart, ces ressources sont toutefois conçues pour guider l’action des intervenants au niveau de la décision et/ou de la mise en oeuvre des programmes, et non celle du plaidoyer. Cette ressource embrasse le cycle complet, de l’établissement du programme et de l’élaboration des politiques à leur évaluation et à leur mise en oeuvre. Elle décrit en outre la démarche de plaidoyer apte à soutenir le rôle des décideurs, engager leur redevabilité et assumer la liaison entre la société civile, les prestataires de santé, les intervenants sous-nationaux et les communautés.See the English version of the Capital to Clinic tool here.