Every two minutes of every day, one woman and 12 children die. These deaths are tragic, particularly when you consider most of them are preventable. The biggest killers include pneumonia, malaria, complications during childbirth, HIV/Aids, even diarrhea. These diseases and conditions rarely kill in the United States and Europe and do not need to be a death sentence in other countries. We can do better than this.
For nearly 40 years, PATH has been pursuing a bold vision: a world where innovation ensures that health is within reach of everyone, no matter where they live. We are deepening our commitment to improving the lives of women and children by focusing on what we do best – accelerating the right innovations to prevent needless deaths and disabilities. Key to our success is bringing together partners across sectors, including governments, pharmaceutical giants, academia, and civil society, to tackle the greatest health challenges.
As PATH's chief strategy officer, it's my job to think about how we can sharpen our contributions. Working in global health for more than 20 years, I've seen how hard it can be to transform great ideas into sustainable, life-improving solutions. But experience has proven the importance of three approaches:
1. Focus where the needs and opportunities are greatest: women and children.
2. Target those steps where smart innovations often get stuck. It is a long and tough process to translate bright ideas and good science into viable innovations that reach millions of people. The toughest steps are often in developing, validating, and gaining regulatory approval of a product and then getting it to market at an affordable price.
3. Draw on expertise across partners and sectors: public, private, and nonprofit.
PATH's work on rotavirus vaccines illustrates this strategy. Rotavirus is the leading cause of deadly diarrhea in young children, accounting for about one-third of the nearly 600,000 diarrheal deaths among children globally each year. We're collaborating with several emerging-country manufacturers to develop the next generation of safe, effective, and affordable rotavirus vaccines geared toward the countries where they're most needed. In India, where more than 100,000 children die from rotavirus annually, we have worked closely with our manufacturing partner, Bharat Biotech, the government of India, and a range of other partners to accelerate the development of a vaccine at just US$1 a dose. The Drugs Controller General of India is now reviewing this vaccine for use in Indian children.
Or consider our work on the Woman's Condom, a second-generation female condom designed to give women another tool to protect from sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancy. With feedback from women and men across four continents, we worked with Conrad and research partners to develop a new female condom that would be easy to use and more acceptable for both partners. In 2008 we licensed the Woman's Condom to Dahua Medical Apparatus Company, a Chinese manufacturer, who has since obtained regulatory approvals in Europe, China, and South Africa. Now, through a product development partnership, we are generating evidence, building supply, and shaping markets to strengthen the introduction of the condom. Through partnership and sustained support, we are overcoming hurdles to get the condom into women's hands.
Collaborating across sectors and partners has been a core strength of PATH since our earliest days. These partnerships not only are essential for leveraging expertise and making faster progress than we could ever achieve alone, but they also mean we use and strengthen the capacity in countries to address their own priorities.
PATH's strategic approach builds on what we've always done well: innovating across our platforms, from vaccines, drugs, and diagnostics to devices and systems, and developing health innovations to achieve measurable impact in the countries where they're most needed – and among the people whose lives depend on it.
One woman and 12 children every two minutes is 13 people too many, especially when the interventions that could save them are within reach. We are bringing these solutions to scale and forging strong partnerships that can ensure we achieve health equity now and in the future.
Amie Batson is PATH's chief strategy officer.
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