ColaLife to feature in Design Museum Holon, Israel

The original ColaLife ORS/Zinc Co-pack will go on display as part of a Food & Design exhibition in Holon Israel from May to October. To quote the organisers: The exhibition, curated by Liora Rosin and Dana Benshalom, will explore the basic yet intricate relationship between humans and their food, and the entangled role design plays […]

How many sachets of ORS should an ORS/Zinc co-pack contain and what size should they be?

This discussion is based on ColaLife’s field experience in Zambia during the Kit Yamoyo trial (2012-13) and subsequent scale-up (2014-2018) as well as informal discussions with colleagues working in this area and common sense. There is a dearth of research on this specific topic, although it is possible to extrapolate from the scant literature that […]

Simon Berry gets OBE – what I feel about it

Jane and Simon with Charity and Jane, two of the Keepers Zambia Foundation Field Officers (March 2018) I have been awarded an OBE for services to global child health in the 2023 New Year’s Honours List. Not everyone accepts an award under the UK Honours System. Benjamin Zephaniah refused his, as he said it would […]

Ceniarth agree to reschedule support to ColaLife

At the end of 2019, we started the final, 2-year, phase of our work supported by Ceniarth, reported here: Ceniarth to support ColaLife for two more years. As for many health initiatives, in early 2020, COVID intervened and we’ve had to revise our plans several times. We’re delighted to report that on 22-Apr-22, Ceniarth agreed […]

ORSZCA Update: GFF, UNICEF and more

If you haven’t already done so, please join ORSZCA, the open global network to accelerate the adoption of the new WHO recommendation for diarrhoea treatment: co-packaged ORS and Zinc. Please also follow us on Twitter: @ORSZCA. Supporting the ORSZCA global alliance will lead ColaLife to achieve the final phase of our global impact strategy. ORSZCA […]

What’s a Trim Tab? And have we found one to address the childhood diarrhoea death toll?

In 1972, Buckminster Fuller, the famous inventor, architect and philosopher, explained his insight about part of a ship – the ‘trim tab’ – and the power of a trim tab as a metaphor, to understand how one small adjustment can bring about transformative change. And I wondered: could co-packaging for ORS and Zinc be the […]

ORS/Zinc Co-pack Alliance (ORSZCA) seeks co-chairs

Mother administers ORS to her child. ICDDR,B Hospital Dhaka © Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation/Prashant Panjiar As the world learns to live with COVID, ColaLife is re-starting its advocacy work aimed at making co-packaged ORS and Zinc the “go-to” treatment for childhood diarrhoea. This builds on our successful application in 2019 for the World Health […]

The ColaLife Playbook launches today (28-Oct-20)

After more than two years of development the ColaLife Playbook launches today as a living, online, interactive document that is open to all. Anyone can access it here: bit.ly/colalifeplaybook. ColaLife set out to help transform access to diarrhoea treatment in Zambia to save lives and reduce stunting. Now we want to assist others to do […]

ColaLife documentary now available to stream (or download)

Stream or download the ColaLife documentary here: vimeo.com/ondemand/thecolaroad The Cola Road is an independent film made about our work. It was not commissioned by ColaLife. It was premiered in the UK at the RSA on 23-Sep-13 at an event chaired by Peter Day, BBC business correspondent (now retired) who had visited us in Zambia. In […]

COVID-19, diarrhoeal disease and fragile health systems

Evidence suggests that COVID-19 will have only a small direct impact on our target group – under 5 children and their carers (adults of reproductive age) in low to middle-income countries. However, the indirect impacts, through disrupted health systems are likely to be very large indeed. Simon recently gave a presentation on this to the […]