With the construction of the nutrition center in Lawra and our efforts to help establish a cervical cancer program in Wa, MedPLUS has adopted a focus on maternal and child health in our additional projects. A recent publication by PATH illustrates ten "breakthrough innovations" that can save 1.2 million women and children by the end of 2015. Although much progress has been made towards the Millennium Development Goals focusing on improving the health of women and children worldwide, much more action is required to fully achieve those goals by 2015. According to PATH and their partners in innovation such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, the World Health Organization, Merk, and UNICEF, among many others, these ten innovations are the key to saving more than a million women and children.
The advancements presented include a new vaccine for rotavirus which could save thousands of children, tools to enable community health workers to more effectively diagnose life threatening conditions such as pneumonia in children and preeclampsia in pregnant women. Another innovation utilizes the widespread availability of coca cola in many countries as a means to deliver ORS and zinc oxide to treat diarrhea. Many of the other inventions focus on increasing the likelihood of survival for pregnant women, women who have just given birth, and newborns.
Read the entire publication here: http://www.path.org/innovations2015/#letter