What we've learnt from Coca-Cola | Taking ColaLife to scale in Zambia

Editor's Notes

• #2: ColaLife | What we've learnt from Coca-Cola. Taking ColaLife to scale in Zambia.Plenary presentation to the International Forum on Quality and Safety in HealthcareParis, 11-Apr-14
• #3: I have no commercial interest in the commercial product I will show you.But are strategy for impact is that others will find it of commercial interest – more of that later.
• #5: This was our starting point way back in 1985.
• #6: And this is where we get our name from.Coca-Cola seems to get everywhere in developing countries, yet life-saving medicines don't. Why?
• #7: Back in 1985, 1 in 5, or 20% of children didn’t make it to their 5th birthday.Now the figure is 1 in 8.The figure for the UK is 1 in 200 and in France it’s even better than that at 1 in 250.In the recent review of the Millennium Development Goals, more developed countries which already had low mortality rates have reduced their mortality rates more than less developed countries.
• #13: But remember this was the 1980s and we had no telephone, no postal service, no fax or internet. The only communications device we had was this one – a telex machine – and this is not a mass communication device. No good for spreading and sharing ideas. So I failed to get any traction around the idea. After Zambia we went back home as our children needed to start school there and my wife Jane and I set up an NGO to support UK rural development. The years passed while we were engrossed in our work in the UK.
• #14: The ColaLife idea was rekindled by the launch of Gordon Brown’s Business Call To Action which Coca-Cola were involved in.
• #15: Simon Berry did online research to see if anyone else had had the idea in the 23 years since 1985. No one had so he set-up a Facebook Group to share the idea.
• #17: Despite their humble resources, the Facebook Group and blog had generated global interest in the idea and these were mustered to try and get a trial started.
• #18: Despite their humble resources, the Facebook Group and blog had generated global interest in the idea and these were mustered to try and get a trial started.
• #21: In September 2010 Simon Berry and two Facebook supporters – Nigel and Keifer – cycled across France to raise the money needed to travel to Africa to work on a trial plan with local stakeholders.
• #22: The cycle ride funded three trips to Zambia where Simon and Jane worked with local partners on a plan for a trial of the ColaLife idea.
• #25: Rohit Ramchandani – DrPH Candidate, Johns Hopkins University. Trial designer.
• #26: The timeline
• #45: The key learning has been about the value chain.
• #47: The Kit Yamoyo has captured people’s imagination and won many global health, design and innovation awards.In Sep-13 it was featured at the UN General Assembly as a breakthrough innovation in Child Health.In Mar-14 it was show-cased by PATH and PSI in their Best Buys for Global Health initiative.
• #50: We are now moving to a national scale-up where will hand over the product to the private sector.To do that we need to apply the learning from the trial and bring the cost of production down.We need to look at all components of the kit including the packaging.All components of the Kit Yamoyo were reviewed based on the findings of the trial.
• #52: First we will reduce the number of ORS sachets to 4 (from 8) this will halve the cost of the ORS component while at the same time enhance adherence to the combined ORS and Zinc regime.75% of care-givers used 4 ORS sachets or less. Reducing the number of sachets from 8 to 4 will improve adherence to the combined therapy and halve the cost of the ORS component.
• #54: Our pharmaceutical partner in the trial as been inspired to produce Zinc locally. The first samples were put down for stability testing in Nov-13.This provides the opportunity to design are own Zinc packaging. We’ve improved adherence to the correct measuring of ORS through design, can we do the same for Zinc adherence and improve adherence to the 10-day regime.
• #55: The locally produced Zinc will be cheaper and there will be no need for it to be in its own box which will also reduce costs.
• #56: We have persuaded the only soap manufacturer in Zambia to produce a small 25g bar of soap.This will replace the soap imported from India.They will sell the soap themselves as a stand-alone product.
• #57: We will simplify the leaflet and reduce costs by making a single fold format.
• #58: We will simplify the leaflet and reduce costs by making a single fold format.
• #59: Because the kit no longer needs to fit in the Coca-Cola crates we can move to locally produced option – a screw-top jar which is 40% cheaper than the current packaging.In the scale-up we will be using two new packaging formats: • a screw-top • a flexible packThe screw top will have all the functionality of the original packaging.The flexible pack can measure the water.
• #60: In the trial only 4% of retailers put the kits in Coca-Cola crates.This provides an opportunity to re-visit the packaging design and make it cheaper WITHOUT losing any of the innovation features – measuring, mixing, storage device and cup.The jar is produced locally and is 40% CHEAPER than the specially made crate-shaped packaging.… we are also looking at a flexible plastic pouch.
• #69: ColaLife & product innovation – a presentation for the Diarrhoea & Pneumonia Coordination Committee, Uganda.