Developing What Works Best
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Category: General

2014 Highlights & Looking Ahead

Dec 31, 2014

This year was exciting for me and for the BID Initiative. As the Global Director, I moved to Zambia, one of our demonstration countries, to fully embrace the country-led approach which is really at the heart of the BID Initiative. As 2014 comes to end and we embark on a new year, I want to pause and reflect on all that we’ve accomplished and what we can look forward to in the year ahead.

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When Will Design Get Serious About Impact?

Dec 22, 2014

A recent article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review discusses the increasing importance of Human Centered Design in the public sector as well as international development. On the heels of our BID Learning Network Design Collaborative meeting, we couldn’t agree more.

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Sustainable Impact at Global mHealth Forum

Dec 13, 2014

If you follow the Potomac River south from Washington, DC, on the Maryland side you’ll come across a large hotel and convention center in National Harbor, MD. Here, the Gaylord National Convention Center is buzzing with the energy of over 500 people from 50 countries who have gathered to share knowledge and experiences around using mobile phones for health impact in low- and middle-income countries.

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BID Initiative is on Facebook and Twitter!

Nov 24, 2014

We are pleased to announce that the BID Initiative is now on Facebook and Twitter! We are looking forward to further connecting with our country partners, key stakeholders, and those interested in our efforts towards achieving better immunization outcomes through improved data quality, collection and use. We encourage you to fan and follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

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A Strategic Approach to Investing in Data Systems

Nov 5, 2014

In 2012, when Bill and Melinda Gates approved the creation of an explicit Routine Immunization strategy, we noted to them that improved immunization data is a fundamental driver of improved immunization systems overall. However, at the time, we did not have a comprehensive, strategic approach to investing in data systems. Rather than conduct a series of small, academic studies on this topic, we made a large investment to PATH—the Better Immunization Data (BID) Initiative—with the belief that systems change, and improving data, would require a complex, holistic approach and that based in part of the BID Initiative’s progress, we’d figure out our own strategy along the way.

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First Field Visit in Zambia’s Southern Province

Oct 27, 2014

The week of October 12th the Better Immunization Data (BID) Initiative team in Zambia and I began our first field activities in the Southern Province. We were joined by representatives from the Ministry of Community Development Mother and Child Health at national, provincial and district levels who visited facilities in Livingstone and helped us kick off an exciting journey to develop solutions and interventions for better health outcomes. The visit to the district was preceded by a meeting with the Provincial Medical Officer, Dr. Jelita Chinyonga, who expressed excitement over the BID Initiative’s presence which will help address existing challenges on immunization data-capturing and data-use in her province and enhance service provision at all levels of the health care system.

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Satellite Office Now Open in Livingstone

Oct 24, 2014

The beginning of October marked the opening of our Livingstone office in the Southern Province of Zambia. This is a huge step forward for Zambia as a demonstration country because we will now focus on selecting initial test sites in the Livingstone area, where the team will jointly design solutions with members of the health facilities and the district, and then develop a strategy for rollout of BID Initiative solutions across the Southern Province.

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The Importance of Data in the Ebola Outbreak

Oct 15, 2014

As health workers attempt to tackle the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, access to reliable data is becoming increasingly important. With the Better Immunization Data (BID) Initiative, we focus on solutions in immunization that can be applied to other health interventions, enabling healthcare workers to properly collect data and creating a data-use culture at the local level. Using data to inform decisions and identify trends can be a powerful tool in helping to prevent outbreaks from spreading and devastating healthcare systems as we have seen with Ebola.

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Data power: preventing disease on the ground

Oct 2, 2014

A recent article published on the Gavi-powered Vaccines Work blog discusses the power of data at the community level, citing Dr. John Snow’s cholera mapping analysis from the mid-19th century. Our Global Director, Liz Peloso, shares her firsthand experience at an Indonesian clinic where health workers defied the odds defied the odds and effectively used data to identify trends, potential issues, and successfully treat patients before illnesses spread.

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Taking BID on the Road

Jul 15, 2014

Last week, I had the opportunity to visit the GAVI Alliance in Geneva to share background on the BID Initiative, our progress thus far, and the road ahead. Utilizing a coordinated approach is one of the BID’s Initiative’s guiding principles and we know it’s a tenet that will be critical to our success.

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