PATH
Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH) is an international nonprofit organization that creates sustainable, culturally relevant solutions, enabling communities worldwide to break longstanding cycles of poor health. By collaborating with diverse public and private sector partners, PATH helps provide appropriate health technologies and vital strategies that change the way people think and act. PATH’s work improves global health and well-being.
Role in the project
PATH leverages expertise in product development and commercialization to inform the design of the Aquatest product as well as development of the commercialization strategy for the product.
PATH will inform the design of the product by:
- Performing studies of user needs and preferences
- Mock use testing of prototypes
- Providing technical review of product designs.
PATH will assist in the development of a global access strategy focused on expanding access to water testing in underserved communities. This will involve commercializing the product through private-sector partners with the capacity to make, market, and distribute the product in low-resource settings. Development of this plan will be informed by market assessments as well as identification of suitable private-sector partners. These market assessments are available from the working papers section of the website.
People involved
Glenn Austin
Member of the management board
Glenn Austin is director of the PATH Safe Water Project, a 5 year project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that began December 1, 2006. This project aims to deliver a range of very low cost product choices for household water treatment in low income households through stimulation and facilitation of a new commercial market.
Mr. Austin has led product development projects for 25 years and has led health technology development at PATH for 19 years.
Claudia Harner-Jay
Claudia Harner-Jay is a senior program officer with PATH. She currently leads the commercialization efforts on the Safe Water Project, a five-year, Gates Foundation-funded effort to examine whether commercial market forces can help reduce the incidence of waterborne disease by delivering appropriate and affordable household water treatment and storage systems to low income families.
She holds an MBA and MS in environmental policy from the University of Michigan and a BA in international affairs from the University of Puget Sound.
On the Aquatest project, Ms. Harner-Jay coordinates the market analysis and commercialization strategy activities.
Shannon Cali
Shannon joined PATH in 2005 after studying business and public health at Johns Hopkins University. She now enjoys working as a Senior Commercialization Associate with the Aquatest programme to understand potential markets for introduction of Aquatest. She has experience working in both the private and public sectors.
Jesse Schubert
Jesse is a Technical Project Coordinator in PATH's product development shop. He works on a variety of product development projects, including PATH's Safe Water project where he is a member of the Technology team. For Aquatest, Jesse is responsible for conducting mock use assessments of the prototypes in order to provide user input into the design process.