Category Archives: Correspondence

Please submit your co-chair nominations by 25-Aug-21

Would you or a colleague benefit from being at the helm of an alliance to take forward the new WHO recommendation on ORS and Zinc for children’s diarrhoea?

At the pre-launch meeting of the ORS Zinc Co-pack Alliance (ORSZCA) on 11-Aug-2021 it was agreed that we would seek two Co-chairs for ORSZCA – one from an organisation in the global south and one from the global north. Co-chairs may be from any sector and should represent organisations with a strong track record in child survival and a focus on reducing child diarrhoea deaths.

Interested organisations are invited to submit individual nomination(s) for these roles and we also welcome self-nominations. Nominate now through the ORSZCA website.

The role of ORSZCA Co-chair will carry significant influence and involve attendance at major international, regional, and national child survival and diarrhea fora. Whilst not remunerated, Co-chair roles will not be time-consuming or onerous (e.g., 4-6 Zoom meetings a year). The role would also strengthen the child survival advocacy and communications work that Co-chairs would be doing anyway as part their institutions, and bring with it the contacts, potential partnerships and profile that are so important to increase the impact of existing programs and for new project development.

Co-chair activities will be supported by a strong ORSZCA secretariat which will include development of a multi-year strategy and annual workplan, meeting scheduling and report writing, website maintenance and social media, and more.

Please nominate yourself or others here by 25-Aug-2021.

This invitation was first sent out through the ORSZCA mailing list. To be added to the mailing list please sign up here.

 

Action points from the first pre-launch meeting (11-Aug-21)

Thanks to those who attended the first ORSZCA pre-launch meeting on 11-Aug-21.

Here are the action points from that meeting. Please use the comments box below for any comments or queries or email admin@orszco-pack.org.

The next pre-launch meeting will be on 1-Sep-21 and the details of this will be sent out next week.

Action points

SB = Simon Berry, ORSZCA start-up catalyst
LG = Leith Greenslade, ORSZCA start-up catalyst

ORSZCA co-chairs

SB/LG to reach out through the Diarrhoea Innovations Group (DIG) mailing list for nominations/self-nominations of organisations to put forward co-chairs of ORSZCA. It was agreed that we should seek a co-chair from one organisation in the global south and one in the global north. ASAP.
NOTE: there is already strong engagement with ORSZCA from icddr,b
NOTE ALSO: that co-chairs would have strong support from an ORSZCA admin function

ORSZCA launch on 15-Sep-21

Members to draw up lists of their own media channels by 1-Sep-21

SB/LG to reach out to ORSZCA members to create template launch materials for local adaptation by 8-Sep-21

Members to adapt the launch materials as appropriate and push them out through their own media channels on 15-Sep-21

Second pre-launch meeting to review progress towards the launch on 1-Sep-21 (SB to send out meeting invitations on 18-Aug and 25-Aug)

Letter to GFF

Members to consider the draft template letter to GFF (available here).

Members to consider sending this letter to GFF under their own letterhead as soon as possible and before the ORSZCA launch.

Please follow ORSZCA on Twitter @ORSZCA

Please point others to the ORSZCA website: https://orszco-pack.org and encourage them to sign up here: https://orszco-pack.org/sign-up-here/

11-Aug-21

 

Pre-launch invitation sent to Diarrhoea Innovations Group members

Today we sent a pre-launch email invitation to all Diarrhoea Innovations Group (DIG) members inviting them to joint the ORS/Zinc Co-pack Alliance.

The text of the invitation was as follows:

ORSZCA website banner

Hello

I’m writing to you as a fellow member of the no-longer active Diarrhoea Innovations Group (DIG) to invite you to become a founder member of the ORS/Zinc Co-pack Alliance (ORSZCA).
You can sign up here

ORSZCA is an informal global network advocating for the rapid uptake of the new WHO recommendation for the treatment of diarrhoea – co-packaged ORS and Zinc – which we (DIG) successfully lobbied for in 2019.

WHO and UNICEF first recommended the use of both ORS and Zinc for the treatment of diarrhoea in 2004. Today, 17 years later, less that 10% of child diarrhoea cases receive this treatment and diarrhoea remains the second biggest infectious killer of under-5 children, while at the same time being a significant contributor to stunting.

ORSZCA is being created to ensure that we do not see the same unacceptable delay in the uptake of the new co-packaging recommendation and make rapid progress lessening the severity of the tens of millions of diarrhoea episodes that occur among children each year and reduce the 500,000 preventable deaths.

By coming together as an alliance, we dramatically increase our chances of quickly making co-packaged ORS and Zinc the ‘go-to’ treatment for childhood diarrhoea.

Please join us: https://orszco-pack.org/sign-up-here/ and forward this email to anyone who may also be interested in supporting this global effort.

You can also follow ORSZCA on Twitter @ORSZCA

Founder members of ORSZCA include individuals from (in alphabetical order):

  • ColaLife
  • JustActions
  • PATH
  • UNICEF
  • University of Witwatersrand

Thank you

Simon

Simon Berry
For the ORS/Zinc Co-pack Alliance (ORSCA)

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