Kit Yamoyo wins Product Design of the Year 2013
I've just got back from the field, with so many stories to tell and pictures to show, to the news that… [more]
The low-down on AidPods
The Kit Yamoyo anti-diarrhoea kit won Product Design of the Year 2013 The AidPod is at the heart of… [more]
Supporters
The idea behind the ColaLife campaign is more than 20 years old but got nowhere until there was a mechanism… [more]
Royal Society of Medicine presentation now live
For those of you who were unable to make the ColaLife presentation at the Royal Society of Medicine last… [more]
Recent Awards
ColaLife has captured people's imagination and received several high profile awards summarised here
Coca-Cola seems to get everywhere in developing countries, yet essential medicines don't. Why?ColaLife uses the same principles and networks that Coca-Cola and other commodity producers use, to open up private sector supply chains for simple medicines.
In developing countries, 1 in 8 children die before their fifth birthday and the second biggest killer is diarrhoea. Most forms of diarrhoea can be treated simply and cheaply in the home and most communities have a shop. The large majority do not have a well-stocked health centre.
At the current rate of improvement in child survival, it will take more than 150 years for child mortality rates in developing countries to match those in Europe and the USA today. This is an indication that we need to look for new, innovative approaches like ColaLife.
ColaLife is independent and run by volunteers [more]
Trailer for ColaLife Documentary released
Here it is, the 60 sec trailer for The Cola Road, the 40 minute documentary on ColaLife. The filmaker, Claire Ward, describes the film as follows: For years, it has baffled visitors to developing countries: Coca-Cola is everywhere, but basic medicines are not. This year, Zambia has become the first African country to embrace ColaLife, an [...]
Getting the syphon going
We are at a very exciting – albeit nerve-wracking – place just now right at the start of the trial. The situation we were in a few weeks ago, after our visit to see Chief Siachitema, is a really good metaphor for the situation we find ourselves in right now. Let me explain. As we [...]
Going off-piste!
The skiers amongst you will know that there are big risks when going off-piste but the rewards are usually wonderful unless something awful happens. This is the territory we are in right know with the trial. In our original plan we said we would use ‘off-the-shelf’, pre-approved, over the counter products to make up our [...]
It’s the value chain stupid!
Private sector people with supply chain experience will chuckle when they read this. It will be so obvious to them. But it’s not obvious to the rest of us. This is just one example of how public private partnerships are so helpful. What’s obvious to someone from the private sector may not be obvious to [...]
The Kit Yamoyo features (video)
I have written a lot about the features of the Kit Yamoyo anti-diarrhoea kit that is now making its way to shops in remote rural communities in two districts in Zambia but these are best seen. In the video below I describe the features as I disassemble the kit and use it to measure and [...]
Gladys Imasiku explains how the Kit Yamoyo has affected her work at Kalonda Rural Health Centre
I have reported before that staff at the rural health centres within the trial areas are saying that fewer mothers are reporting to them with children with diarrhoea. In short, diarrhoea cases have gone down leaving staff to deal with more complex issues. This is of course anecdotal at the moment but we hope to have [...]
Supply chain theory in 140 characters
One of the good things about Twitter is that in concentrates the mind. Can you get your thought, your hypothesis, your joke or witticism down to just 140 characters? As we’ve got deeper and deeper into the ColaLife project a hypothesis has been developing about supply chains. I’ve been trying to get this hypothesis down to 140 [...]
