ColaLife trial highlights published by the BMJ

We are pleased to announce that the highlights of the ColaLife trial have now been published as a peer-reviewed paper by the BMJ in the BMJ’s Special Supplement on Social innovations in health. The title of the paper is: Emulating value-chains of fast-moving consumer goods to improve uptake of co-packaged ORS and zinc for childhood […]

Video: The ColaLife Story – October 2010 to May 2017

If you want to update yourself on the current status of ColaLife and some of the ups and downs we’ve encountered along the way, please consider watching this TED-style talk. The ColaLife Story from Concept to Scale-up – innovation in the real world. >> View video on YouTube To keep up to date moving forward […]

Rohit Ramchandani’s DrPH thesis published online

We are very pleased to announce that Rohit Ramchandani’s DrPH thesis (Jan-16) has finally been published on the Johns Hopkins Sheridan Libraries website. It’s entitled: EMULATING COMMERCIAL, PRIVATE-SECTOR VALUE-CHAINS TO IMPROVE ACCESS TO ORS AND ZINC IN RURAL ZAMBIA: EVALUATION OF THE COLALIFE TRIAL. The abstract can be read directly from the website here (and […]

Some thoughts on diarrhoea incidence and seasonality/climate change

The question of seasonality and how it correlates with diarrhoea has come up a number of times. Our last blog post got Rohit thinking about this a bit more. There are few studies, if any, that have looked at the seasonality of diarrhoea incidence in Zambia. This is a global gap in the research because of the complexity of […]

A Sneak Peek at the 2014 Zambia Demographic Health Survey (DHS)

During the course of our trial (August 2012-August 2013) we received word that Zambia would be undertaking its 6th Standard Demographic Health Survey (DHS). The Demographic Health Surveys are nationally representative household surveys that provide data for a wide range of monitoring and impact evaluation indicators in the areas of population, health, and nutrition. They […]

COTZ Final Report available

This is the final report of the COTZ Project and was produced by the ColaLife team: Jane Berry, Simon Berry and Rohit Ramchandani. It covers all aspects of the trial: the trial objectives; project need and policy context; the voucher system; sales; costing and pricing; sustainability and forward plans; and finances and cost effectiveness. It […]

Endline Survey Report published

During the ColaLife Operational Trial Zambia (COTZ) three sets of surveys were carried out: a baseline; midline (after 6 months) and endline. All surveys included a household survey and a survey of retailers. The midline and endline also looked at the impact we were having on the rural health centres in the trial sites. Technical […]

Design like you give a damn – the case for 200ml ORS sachets

This blog post has been gestating for a while but the contractions really started* when I read this tongue-in-cheek post – Designing the least user-friendly products imaginable – which was highlighted by Euan Semple in his Facebook timeline. This mug was one of the least-friendly designs highlighted. Image credit: Designing the least user-friendly products imaginable just for fun […]

How and why we used vouchers in the ColaLife trial (COTZ)

  Kit Yamoyo vouchers | A retailer redeeming a Kit Yamoyo voucher on his phone This blog post is prompted by a review of our work that mis-understood how and why we used vouchers in the ColaLife Operational Trial in Zambia (COTZ). If you assess COTZ retrospectively, as a trial of vouchers, it comes off very very […]

5 immediate recommendations to reduce child mortality in Zambia

This is a call to all to comment on 5 immediate recommendations to come out of the ColaLife Operational Trial in Zambia (COTZ). We are particularly interested in whether these are compatible with iCCM. Please add your comments below or email simon@colalife.org   5 immediate recommendations to reduce childhood mortality in Zambia These actions can […]