Category: Products
Overcoming Supply Chain Bottlenecks at the Community Level
Feb 9, 2015
A key component in the BID Initiative approach focuses on supply chain interventions. Interventions such as barcode technology, alerts for expired vaccines and using this data in supply and inventory reports will ensure each clinic has adequate vaccine supply, the district officials have visibility into and can better manage supply levels and the community health workers are trained in supply chain management. Today, we take a look at how another organization, JSI, is Improving Supply Chains for Community Case Management (SC4CCM) through a five-year learning project.
Read MoreNational Electronic Immunization Registry Inception Meeting
Jan 19, 2015
In late 2014, the BID initiative and Tanzania Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MoHSW), through its Immunization and Vaccine Development (IVD) program, agreed to develop a national electronic immunization registry. The BID Initiative contracted IntraHealth to develop this intervention, which will help solve prioritized immunization challenges including the inaccurate denominator, lack of unique identification for children, inability to trace defaulters or unvaccinated children, and lack of data visibility across all levels of the health system.
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Testing Interventions in Livingstone
Dec 19, 2014
Last month, we joined our colleagues from both the Lusaka and Livingstone offices to visit four health facilities in Livingstone. The purpose of our visits were to test the proposed product vision and change management interventions in the facilities and obtain feedback from health care providers.
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Perspectives on the Design Collaborative
Dec 11, 2014
Last week’s BLN Design Collaborative brought together health officials from 9 sub-Saharan African countries to discuss and iterate on the design of BID Initiative solutions. The meeting provided a fantastic opportunity for country partners to gather and learn from one another. I personally had the chance to sit down with some of the attendees to discuss challenges related to immunization data in their countries and get their perspective on the value of peer learning and their role in the BLN as a design country.
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Digital Health at Scale: Getting Beyond Pilot Projects
Dec 9, 2014
It took almost 20 years for barcodes to be fully adopted across the grocery industry. Today they’re in use worldwide, delivering efficiency and automation on a massive scale. It took the efforts of a dedicated visionary to show the impact that a single, universal-sized shipping container would bring to the trucking and freight industry. Today, shippers around the globe can be sure that a standard-sized container will fit on the truck that delivers it to the port in Mombasa and on the truck that unloads it in Seattle.
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A Quiet Revolution: Strengthening the Routine Health Information System in Bangladesh
Dec 4, 2014
The BID Initiative is not designed to create new information system products and solutions. Instead, our aim is to embrace and extend existing systems and investments made by national governments and their cooperating partners wherever possible.
In October, we conducted a webinar on the Electronic Immunization Registry implementation in Albania. Now, we take a look at a publication: A Quiet Revolution: Strengthening the Routine Health Information System in Bangladesh to learn how the Bangladesh Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) used open source software to enable public health facilities to electronically report routine health information. It is our hope that by learning from what other countries have tested and implemented, we will arrive at a holistic and replicable solution that will result in strengthened immunization systems and overall health outcomes.
Read MoreImportance of Partnerships
Dec 2, 2014
I recently stopped in Geneva on my way home from visiting the BID Initiative teams in Tanzania and Zambia to meet with important stakeholders at Gavi. While the BID Initiative work primarily focuses on activities in Sub-Saharan Africa with the BID Learning Network (BLN) and in our demonstration countries; , we are also building partnerships with global and bi-lateral agencies like Gavi, WHO, UNICEF, USAID, and others.
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Increasing Efficiency with Barcode Technology in Tanzania
Nov 21, 2014
In 2010,PATH set out to identify how low income countries could benefit from using barcode technology to improve the efficiency of the vaccine supply chain. The objective was to support the design of sustainable barcode technology to increase the efficiency and visibility of vaccine supply chain at all levels of the supply chain to facilitate decision making so Ministries of Health could achieve safety of vaccines and more efficient immunization programs.
Read MoreRFP for Electronic Immunization Registry Development in Tanzania
Nov 6, 2014
The BID Initiative will introduce information system products and immunization practices that can be tested in Tanzania and Zambia, packaged for dissemination and then deployed at scale in many countries. To accomplish this, we have submitted a request for proposal for Electronic Immunization Registry Development in Tanzania.
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Perspectives on the Digital Development Opportunity
Oct 31, 2014
PATH’s DHS team has been early supporters and shapers of the GreenTree Consensus, a set of principles focusing on the importance of working with governments and key stakeholders to ensure that all projects and services are appropriate, scalable and affordable. Kate Wilson, a key advisor to the BID Initiative, recently provided her perspective on the article on the PATH blog, citing the BID Initiative as a great example of how technology is enabling innovative solutions to global problems.
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