Category: Products
Hello Tanga!
Jul 6, 2017
In October, we announced our plans to expand the BID Initiative in Tanzania and are pleased to share we will be expanding to the Tanga Region, followed shortly afterward by Kilimanjaro. This is a huge milestone for the BID Initiative’s work with the government of Tanzania. It means we successfully completed the implementation of data use and data quality interventions in the initial test region, the Arusha Region, and it signals another step toward scaling throughout the country.
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An inside look at Zambia’s new electronic immunization registry
Jun 7, 2017
Back in February, I wrote about Ona’s visit to Livingstone, Zambia to work with PATH’s BID Initiative, the nurses in the health facilities, and other project stakeholders to collectively define a health information system that would ease the data collection and reporting burden of the nurses, while at the same time making their data more accessible and useful to them during their work. This week, Ona will release the next version of the app, as it scales in Kazungula and other districts in Southern Province, in partnership with the BID Initiative and the government of Zambia.
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Tanzania realizes vision for an integrated immunization system
May 25, 2017
A successful immunization program requires the uninterrupted availability of quality vaccines from the point at which a vaccine is manufactured to the moment a nurse administers it. But in order for manufacturers and health workers to walk in lock-step, they need end-to-end visibility into supply chains, to improve forecasting and procurement plans at a national level. The ability to link vaccine supply data to facility-level utilization and performance data ensures more cost-effective, efficient and reliable vaccine management.
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PATH’s 40th and the future of digital health
May 18, 2017
Imagine walking for several kilometers to vaccinate your baby, leaving at dawn and following the dusty road between your village and the nearest health facility 40 kilometers away. When you arrive, there is no one staffing the welcome desk. The clinic is short-staffed and the queue in the waiting room requires at least an hour wait. When it is finally your turn, the vaccine your baby needs is out of stock. You’ll have to come back another day, but by that point you’re outside the recommended window for vaccination, and your baby is at higher risk for infection.
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Year in review: BID Initiative, April 2016-March 2017 Annual Report
May 4, 2017
As we head into our fifth and final year of the BID Initiative, we want to share our progress with you and look ahead to the many milestones we still have left to celebrate. We’re pleased to share our 2016-17 Annual Report.
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Ensuring vaccines reach the people who need them most
Apr 28, 2017
Stacks of immunization registry ledgers tower above the desks and medical supplies. Each ledger contains rows and rows of patient records—their name, date of birth, the last time they received a vaccine, and which antigen, among other information.
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Vietnam’s Digital Immunization Registry: Important lessons and parallels to BID Initiative
Apr 20, 2017
It used to take Ms. Linh more than a day to generate a list of immunization patients at the Phu Hung Commune Health center in southern Vietnam. Ms. Linh was responsible for manually entering each name and record into paper registers before personally delivering invitation letters for the upcoming clinic. These days, it takes a fraction of that time – just 15 minutes on the computer.
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Data-use tools catching on in health facilities
Mar 21, 2017
Since November 2016, the BID Initiative has been rolling out data use interventions in Livingstone and Kazungula districts of Southern Province to help build a culture of data use in the health service. The interventions, such as the data use guide and supportive supervision, have been well-received in the health facilities, with some facilities recording early successes with the tools.
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Empowering Immunization Mentors in Tanzania
Mar 15, 2017
We are constantly learning and tailoring our approach to more effectively and efficiently roll out BID interventions. As we began implementing in Tanzania, we saw the need to adjust our strategy based on lessons learned from the early district implementations.
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Health care’s next revolution: digitized data to transform lives
Mar 9, 2017
In a world with many tough problems, getting good data is a solvable first step. The call for better global health data has been steadily getting louder. In a recent article, Melinda Gates noted that while the quality and use of these data are improving, significant work remains.
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