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Investment in digital health needs careful planning: new WHO guide explains how to do it well

Oct 15, 2020

With the right approach and effective investment, digital health interventions can be successful long-term solutions that help to improve the health and well-being of the people they were designed to reach. A new guide has been launched by WHO to help ensure that digital health investments are effective, sustainable, and equitable – and that they are implemented in a coordinated way and appropriate for the local context. The Digital Implementation Investment Guide has been published by WHO and HRP in collaboration with PATH, UNICEF, and UNFPA.

Increasing immunization coverage requires better use of better data

Apr 2, 2019

Global funders, country policymakers, and immunization program implementers know that the use of high-quality data is a cornerstone of well-functioning immunization programs. When high-quality data is available, public health decision-makers can understand which populations are underserved and where resources can be allocated most effectively. Immunization coverage rates have improved over the past few decades, but they have plateaued around 80 percent. The challenge with reaching the last 20 percent of children is to know who they are and where they are, which requires easily accessible and accurate data along with the capacity to interpret that data to take action.

New immunization data reveals state of the field and the important role of data in vaccination

Aug 24, 2018

Last month, the World Health Organization (WHO) released new immunization data from 2017 that reveals global progress toward immunization targets, and where countries and stakeholders are still falling short. Nine in 10 infants were vaccinated last year, or 123 million babies worldwide. But since 2015, the percentage of children around the world who have received the full three-dose course of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP3), has leveled out at 85 percent. DTP3 is a key indicator of immunization program performance.

New efforts to improve immunization data quality and use

Jan 4, 2018

As the BID Initiative initial grant comes to a close, we have been exploring ways to leverage our current learnings and further explore knowledge gaps around data use. PATH was recently awarded a grant in partnership with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to do just this.

Annual report indicates better data, but stagnating vaccination rates

Aug 4, 2017

Childhood immunization is one of the best investments a country can make. The world has made great strides in recent years, and we are closer to ensuring that no child is left unreached by lifesaving vaccines. But despite this progress, coverage has stagnated globally, and one in ten infants worldwide don’t receive a single vaccine. Each year, the WHO and UNICEF release an annual report that estimates global immunization coverage. The report offers a snapshot of the world’s progress toward achieving the Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP).

Looking Ahead to 2017: New Resources to Put Principles for Digital Development into Action

Dec 15, 2016

This week, global development stakeholders from around the world convened at the Global Digital Health Forum (GDHF) in the Washington, DC area to share knowledge with colleagues and wrestle with the challenges we face to realize the full potential of digital services. DIAL and PATH led a panel discussion at the GDHF that examined the current state of digital health knowledge and how organizations are practicing the Principles for Digital Development (PDD).

Unleashing Digital Health to Save Lives

Dec 8, 2016

At PATH, our digital health work spans the entire software development lifecycle from analysis of information systems to deployment and long-term use of those systems. We work across health areas, such as immunization, supply chain, maternal and child health, and insurance to identify and address information management needs and improve data-driven decision-making.

Convening to Strengthen the Digital Health Knowledge Base

Aug 18, 2016

Last month, the BID Initiative co-organized a one day meeting in Washington, DC, attended by over 20 participants, to discuss collaboration and alignment of digital health approaches and investments to build a stronger, more accessible, and more usable knowledge base.

A Focus on Strong Health Systems and Data Use at MCIA

Mar 10, 2016

At the inaugural Ministerial Conference on Immunization in Africa (MCIA), there weren’t questions around the BID Initiative’s success to date, but how soon could we scale across our two demonstration countries to strengthen health systems and create a data-use culture.

Barcodes: quenching a thirst for data

Oct 29, 2015

You are thirsty and walk into your local corner store to pick up a bottle of water. The clerk scans the barcode on the bottle, announces the price, you pay, leave the store, and drink your water. The story may end there for you, but it is just the start for the data stored in that barcode which is being recorded in the store’s inventory database and communicated to distributors and suppliers across the supply chain.

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