A friend brought this to my attention and I wanted to share it the community in case there are developers out there with extra time and neat ideas, and in the event that winning applications might be beneficial in their approach to other immunization projects. CDC Flu App Challenge: $35,000 in p...

Many thanks! A dozen updates this week as the new vaccine pledging meeting approaches. Will the funds pledged next month cover the needs for introduction of rotavirus, pneumococcal and HPV vaccines? ‘The doubt is permitted,’ as they say in French. Here are the titles of the new technical upda...

Are dairy chains and routine vaccine chains complementary? In Karnataka (South India) milk unions pick-up milk from even remote villages with amazing regularity/predictability (without special technology to speak of). Vehicles with "chillers" travel empty, and return with milk to the semi-urban proc...

by Simona Zipursky, PATH; Christoph Conrad, WHO/Quality, Safety & Standards; Tony Richardson, CDC/Vaccine Supply & Assurance Branch They call it the Decade of Vaccines for a reason. More new vaccines will become available between 2010 and 2020 than all previous decades combined. Not onl...

by Steve McCarney, John Lloyd, and Joanie Robertson, PATH A group of public- and private-sector partners are collaborating with project Optimize to evaluate a range of innovative transportation and storage containers for heat-sensitive drugs and vaccines that operate in environments with or without...

by Steve McCarney and Joanie Robertson, PATH Many health facilities in remote areas operate without grid electricity, have unreliable electricity, or find that using electricity is too costly. In these settings, solar energy is a promising solution for powering the storage and transportation need...

by Yves Chartier, WHO, and Olga Popova, Crucell Worldwide immunization programs have had an enormously positive impact on health and health care since 1974 when the World Health Assembly launched the Expanded Programme on Immunization. However, like all great achievements the effort has unveiled ...

Evaluation of mid-level management training in immunisation in the African region. Mutabaruka E, Dochez C, Nshimirimana D, Meheus A. World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa, Division of Communicable Diseases, Immunization and Vaccine Development, Brazzaville, Congo. Abstract OBJEC...

Project Optimize is seeking real-life stories of how vaccine vial monitors are making an impact in the field. If you would like to share your story, please reply to this forum post. Dont hesitate to also post photographs if you have some Thanks in advance Michel Zaffran...

Claude Letarte reminds us that 24 March 2011 was World Tuberculosis Day and shares with us links to the free BCG World Atlas published by McGill University and partners in Montreal. The Atlas is: "a first-of-its-kind, easy-to-use, searchable website that provides free detailed information on current...

Dear Moderator, Four more infants died due to measles vaccination in Kutch on March 16 and two more died on March 18. There are deaths being reported consistantly all over the country within few minutes of vaccination but none has been attributed to vacination by the investigating...

Epidemiologists and public health researchers from multiple institutions are collaborating to gather and analyze the best available data on deaths and sick days caused by over 100 diseases and injuries around the world. The culmination of their work is the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study. RT...

Have put together some slides on the issues involved. This is an educational power point- long, but of use to prepare classes for health workers or doctors- http://www.slideshare.net/prabirkc/toxic-shock-syndrome...

Background: In 2010 the 63rd World Health Assembly called for a comprehensive response to viral hepatitis. As mandated by the WHA, from 2011 onwards, World Hepatitis Day is promoted on 28 July in order to provide an opportunity for awareness raising and greater understanding of viral hepatitis as...

Financing is a critical component of a sustainable immunization programme. The Immunization Financing Toolkit is a series of short briefs on different options for financing national immunization programs and vaccines. It is intended to serve as a resource for program managers and decision-makers in ...

I recently was looking at specifications for solar powered vaccine refrigerators in the PIS and PQS specifications. I was trying to do a comparison of the various models and found it difficult. For each model the data given is for different test conditions. For example, energy use data for True E...

A news brief about the ongoing Measles SIA in Cambodia follows. Also attached with this post are a presentation on the SIA and the Implementation Guidelines. For further information, please contact Aun Chum, Health Officer, UNICEF Cambodia ([email protected]). Cambodia's Ministry of Health launche...

This message has been cross-posted from HPV Vaccine Global Community of Practice. With many thanks to Robert Steinglass. Dear Lisa, I agree with Sarah Mullins that there is a great opportunity to find links with a larger package of interventions, including tetanus vaccination. The following four r...

Vaccines are temperature sensitive; They must be kept cold, but should not freeze. When vaccines are transported in the field they are placed in insulated carriers along with frozen ice packs. If these ice packs are below freezing and come in close contact to the vaccines they could freeze the vacci...

In this podcast, Steve McCarney, cold chain technologies specialist with Project Optimize, PATH, shares his insights with Pharma IQ, on how advances in vaccines and emerging markets have impacted the cool chain and will continue to do so. He also assesses the impact of technology innovations on the ...