About ColaLife

Who we are

Our Virtual Advisory Board

Dr Ian Goldman
Professor Don Nutbeam Dr. Ian Goldman >> more

Our trustees
We are currently recruting trustees and establish ColaLife as a charity under English law.

Our team

Simon Berry jane2008 Dennis_Tretter
Simon Berry Jane Berry Dennis Tretter >> more

Our supporters

Bates Wells & Braithwaite Logo

BBC Logo UnLtd logo NEW

Allen & Overy LLP are providing pro bono legal advise. Furhtermore we have more than 15,000 supporters online >> more

Other interesting ColaLife links:

Learn more about the idea of ColaLife and what has happend since 2008.

The ColaLife movement is based on three facts:

  1. You can buy a Coca-Cola almost any where you go in the world, even in the most remote parts of developing countries
  2. In these same places 1 in 5 children die before their fifth birthday from preventable causes. Most die from dehydration from diarrhoea.
  3. The child mortality figures have not changed significantly for at least 3 decades which would indicate that current initiatives are not working

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ColaLife in 100 words
You can buy a Coca-Cola virtually anywhere in developing countries but in these same places 1 in 5 children die before their 5th birthday from simple, preventable causes like dehydration from diarrhoea.

ColaLife, an independent non-profit, is working with Coca-Cola to open their distribution channels in developing countries to carry ’social products’ - oral rehydration salts, high-dose vitamin A, water purification tablets - to save children’s lives.

Using our ‘AidPod’, designed to fit between bottles in crates, local agencies can ‘piggy-back’ on established supply chains, offering real, affordable ‘last mile’ reach, SMS tracking, impactful CSR opportunities, and improved carbon footprints
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A short history of ColaLife
ColaLife is talking to Coca-Cola about opening up its distribution channels in developing countries to save lives, especially children’s lives, by carrying much needed ’social products’ such as oral rehydration salts and high-dose vitamin A tablets. For the latest on the campaign, please visit the blog. ColaLife is an independent and purely voluntary movement backed by thousands of supporters form across the world. Many have joined the ColaLife Facebook Page and Facebook Group.


Empty shelves at Tiriri health centre in Katine, Uganda. Photograph: Guardian/Martin Godwin
A fully stocked retail outlet. Photograph: Simon Berry

These supporters include experts in public health, emerging markets in developing countries, logistics experts and people working on the frontline in developing countries on maternal and child health. We are in the process of establishing a virtual advisory board and our first member is Don Nutbeam who is Professor of Public Health (and Vice Chancellor) at Southampton University.

ColaLife was launched by Simon Berry, who had the an idea while working on the British Aid programme in 1988. However, no real progress was made until Simon floated the idea on his blog in May 2008, he has managed to create a huge community around the campaign, through a Facebook and appearances on Radio 4’s iPM programme. He is now in discussions with Coca-Cola. He has also brokered a partnership between the international NGO, AED and Coca-Cola to trial the ideas behind ColaLife.

The latest progress reports are here.

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The idea in 30 seconds
This 30 second video was produced on 19 October 2008 to support our submission to Google’s Project 10^100 initiative:

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The Aidpod concept
Since May 2008 the original idea has been developed further and is now focussed on the ‘aidpod’ concept - a wedge-shaped pod that fits in the unused space between the necks of the bottles in a Coca-Cola crate. Here is a video describing Mark III of the aidpod design.

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At the heart of ColaLife is the principle of local determination. ColaLife must be implemented in a way with empowers and strengthens the local public health infrastructure.
ColaLife and local determination
This is explained in more detail here. Our key principles are here.

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Simon Berry on the BBC’s iPM Programme
On 25/4/08 Coca-Cola committed to ‘trial the ideas behind Colalife’ on the BBC’s iPM Programme. To hear an edited version of the interview click on the play button below:

This is the full interview. Please ignore the first 45 seconds of introduction to the whole iPM programme:

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Simon Berry presents ColaLife at Canvas8

Simon Berry presents ColaLife @ Canvas8 from Canvas8 on Vimeo.


The campaign has made so much progress that we are now moving into implementation mode. We have described our initial priorities and how we would achieve these in our first development plan published in December 2009:

Development Plan cover page

But Simon can’t do all this alone. An email group has been formed for those that want to be more involved, and this site created to help spread the message even further. If you have anything to offer the campaign, please do get involved.

>> Our full aims and objectives

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Last updated: 10/8/10