Finding the PATH

I drove to the dog park every day when my border collie was young, passing by a nondescript building with this logo on it. Like Charlie Bucket in Roald Dahl’s classic children’s book, I wondered what went on inside the mysterious industrial building near my house. Finally I got the brilliant idea of googling it, and discovered that the building housed something more wonderful than Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.

Willy Wonka gives children wonder and joy; PATH gives children life. PATH is a global health nonprofit quietly based in Seattle. For the last forty years, PATH has looked at barriers to public health around the world and developed simple, effective solutions. Starting with the then-novel concept of public-private partnerships to improve access to contraception, PATH has expanded its mission. They work to:

• help poor nations develop robust public health systems,
• to eliminate malaria, and
• to reduce preventable neo-natal mortality around the world.

Window of Opportunity

Last week, I was invited to PATH’s annual breakfast fundraiser, where I had a chance to talk to people who work on some of these projects. Talking to these people, I learned about the Window of Opportunity Project. It’s a five-year initiative focused on improving the health and development of children during the first 1,000 days. That’s the period between conception and a child’s second birthday. During this time mortality is highest and small changes can have lifelong health impacts.

They teach small groups of women in Uttar Pradesh about childhood vaccines, who then act as catalysts in their communities.

What I Learned

PATH has developed breast-milk banking programs in regions where AIDS orphans are common. There is a simple tool based on local midwives’ practices that stops hemorrhaging after childbirth. I learned about a vaccine in development for malaria that’s 50% effective. PATH has developed a simple delivery system for magnesium sulfate that can stop preeclampsia.

During the breakfast, we heard from speakers about PATH’s commitment to health solutions that serve women and children because they are disproportionately affected by poverty and poor health care. We heard from Gugu Xaba. She started as a community health nurse in South Africa nearly 30 years ago. Now she leads the Window of Opportunity project that has helped to reduce childbirth deaths in one district by 65%.

Will to Work

International aid and international development programs are fraught with ethical dilemmas. They can often do more harm than good. Seattle is known as the land of process; examples abound of ineffectual projects where stakeholders never reach consensus. PATH has proved smart people working together can make substantial, measurable, improvements all over the world. In fact, as I left the conference center that day, I realized the only insurmountable problem is lacking the will to develop solutions.