ORSZCA – the ORS/Zinc Co-pack Alliance – continues as a voluntary network to support and develop free resources, including those developed by ColaLife and others. You can find those resources here.
This means that everything ColaLife learnt and designed is still available freely, either on this historic site or on the ORSZCA site, for individuals or organisations to adopt or adapt to their own situation. ColaLife’s ‘open source’ approach was designed from the outset to share learning, data and design improvements widely, to enable our small organisation to have a big impact to save children’s lives.
ColaLife’s approach for global impact was always as a catalyst: to influence the strategies of the existing big players in child health, including national governments. We aimed to generate robust, credible evidence, and innovative and tested designs and approaches, and to share these with organisations working to reduce child mortality. To an extent, we succeeded in that aim – our legacy continues through the ORSZCA network and its members and through organisations we have worked with such as Live Well in Zambia, who distribute Kit Yamoyo, Pharmanova, who make it and sell to the Ministry of Health, supermarkets and wholesalers, and NGOs such as Clear Solutions who we continue to mentor.
On 28-Oct-20 we published the ColaLife Playbook, along with a commitment to support users of it. That was re-edited for the ORSZCA network and can now be found here. The Playbook is a live online document. Users can leave comments or ask questions within the document itself, to help improve it.
For those not ready for the playbook, the list below pulls together some key resources from the ColaLife site that may be useful to others wishing to learn from the our trial and scale-up in Zambia. All these resources are covered in more detail in the playbook.
The resources are grouped as follows:
- Product design and functionality
- Distribution
- Marketing and voucher use
- Training
- Evidence
- Other resources
1. Product design and functionality
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Pre-trial focus group methodology |
Methodology designed by Dr Beth-Anne Pratt for the pre-trial consultation to gather attitudes and opinions of potential target consumers for the ColaLife Operational Trial’s Anti-Diarrhoea Kits (ADKs). | |
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The case for 200ml sachets |
Evidence-based article which makes the case for the use of 200 mL ORS sachets for the home treatment of diarrhoea. | |
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The case for co-packaging ORS and Zinc |
Observation-based article which makes the case for the co-packaging of ORS and Zinc to help ensure children receive the recommended treatment for diarrhoea (ORS combined with Zinc). | |
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The case for incorporating measurement functionality |
Evidence-based article which makes the case for incorporating water measurement functionality into the packaging. | |
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Blister pack design for better Zinc adherence |
Observation-based article which makes the case for better blister pack design aimed at better Zinc adherence.
This blister pack design is now in use in Zambia. |
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How the ColaLife findings influenced the Kit Yamoyo design for scale-up |
Following the trial we undertook a ‘root and branch’ review of the design of the Kit Yamoyo anti-diarrhoea kit. This article explains the detail of this review process. | |
2. Distribution
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How the Coca-Cola Distribution System worksIt’s the value chain stupid!How to apply subsidies without destroying the value chain |
Three articles explaining how existing systems for the distribution systems for fast moving consumer goods work and how we have applied this for the distribution of a health product (an anti-diarrhoea kit called Kit Yamoyo). | |
3. Marketing and voucher use
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How and why we used vouchers in the ColaLife Trial in Zambia |
An article explaining our use of vouchers during the first 6 months of the ColaLife Operational Trial in Zambia and the circumstances under which we might use them again. | |
4. Training
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The ColaLife training materials (download) |
A description of these training cards and a ‘print ready’ download (PDF) of the ColaLife training ‘flashcards’. The cards were developed from more complex (and much more expensive) flipchart materials which proved to be too complex and not portable enough for use by frontline workers. |
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5. Evidence
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Kit Yamoyo Willingness to Pay Study (trial format, rural districts) |
This research was carried out by IDInsight in 2013 in the trial areas (rural districts) to map the Demand Curve for the trial version of Kit Yamoyo and establish caregivers’ willingness to pay for the product. Mapping the Demand Curve for Kit Yamoyo (PDF 1.9 MB) | |
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Kit Yamoyo Willingness to Pay Study (scale-up format, urban districts) |
This research was carried out by IDInsight in 2014 to map the Demand Curve for the scale-up format of Kit Yamoyo and establish caregivers’ willingness to pay for the product. Mapping the Demand Curve for Kit Yamoyo (Scale-up) (PDF 1.9 MB) | |
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The ColaLife Open Access initiative |
Online space for the sharing of the ColaLife learning and findings. This article describes the resources in this area and explains how to apply for access. | |
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Likelihood of receiving the recommended treatment for diarrhoea
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This is an interactive infographic which shows how the likelihood of a child receiving the recommended treatment for diarrhoea diminishes as the process of delivery progresses. This infographic is implemented in Excel and you can put your own variables in it to compare two different delivery systems. |
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Seasonality of diarrhoea |
A description of how the incidence of diarrhoea varies with the season. Diarrhoea incidence is not highest in the rainy season as many people think. | |
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The final report of the ColaLife Operational Trial in Zambia (COTZ) |
This is the final project management report for the ColaLife Operational Trial in Zambia authored by the ColaLife project management team. | |
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The endline report of the ColaLife Operational Trial in Zambia (COTZ) |
This is the endline report for the ColaLife Operational Trial in Zambia produced by RuralNet Associates, UNICEF and Rohit Ramchandani can be downloaded here (PDF 1.7 MB).
https://www.colalife.org/2014/07/22/endline-survey-report-published/ |
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Seven of the headline findings from the ColaLife Operational Trial in Zambia (COTZ) |
Infographic of the seven headline findings of the ColaLife Operational Trial in Zambia. | |
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Rohit Ramchandani’s DrPH Thesis |
Rohit was the Primary Investigator for the ColaLife Operational Trial in Zambia (COTZ) and used a subset of the data in his DrPH Thesis at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. He successfully defended his thesis in Dec-15 and it was published online in Jul-16. Link here. Meanwhile you can obtain access through our open access initiative. |
6. Other resources
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The 11 As for Access to ORS & Zinc for Under-5 Diarrhoea Treatment |
ORS and Zinc together have been the recommended treatment for children with diarrhoea for over a decade – yet children are still not getting it. How can we improve access to ORS and Zinc? Our 11 As for Access framework builds on ideas from the pharmaceutical industry and those involved in delivering patient healthcare. What does ‘access’ really mean in the developing country situation? We broaden the often-used framework (eg Accessibility as a function of Availability, Affordability, Acceptability, Adherence) with lessons on market development and value chain creation for ORSZ in Zambia. | |
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The ColaLife film: The Cola Road |
The Cola Road is an independent, award winning documentary of our work produced by Claire Ward. It was filmed in Aug-12 as we geared up for the start of the ColaLife Operational Trial in Zambia. This page gives details of how to download the film and how we can support public screenings. | |
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Likelihood of receiving the recommended treatment for diarrhoea
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This is an interactive infographic which shows how the likelihood of a child receiving the recommended treatment for diarrhoea diminishes as the process of delivery progresses. This infographic is implemented in Excel and you can download it and put your own variables in it to compare two different delivery systems. |
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Scale-up challenges |
This article outlines the importance of moving from successful trial to scale-up and some of the challenges we faced making this transition. | |
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5 immediate recommendations to reduce child mortality from diarrhoea in Zambia |
This article was written after completion of the ColaLife Operational Trial in Zambia (COTZ) and outlines 5 immediate recommendations to reduce child mortality and morbidity in Zambia. | |
Last reviewed: 26-Mar-2024























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