Besides health and disease management programs, PATH also has a robust product development arm based in its Seattle headquarters.
What you probably already know: Nestled in a former corporate gym space on the banks of Lake Union, PATH is perhaps Seattle’s best-kept secret. Many vaguely know it as a global health organization, if they’re familiar with it at all. Since its founding in 1977, PATH now works in more than 70 countries to improve access to lifesaving health tools and care, and the nonprofit says it improves the lives of more than 150 million people every year. Its headquarters is home to a host of scientists and engineers, as well as its Product Development Engineering Lab and Biosafety Level 2 Laboratory. PATH’S work includes numerous robust programs targeting women and children, particularly around maternal, newborn and child health and nutrition. Funding comes from foundations, governments, agencies, corporations and individual investors. Forbes has named the organization, which employs 1,500 people worldwide and reported revenue of $371 million in 2024, one of its top charities.
Why it matters: “I think it is really hard to describe what we do in a pithy sound bite,” says Kammerle Schneider, PATH’s chief global health programs officer who joined the organization 14 years ago. “We do so much product development, system innovation and delivery across so many diseases that it’s difficult to distill it.” Significant highlights in its women’s health initiatives in 2024 included working to support the mental health of mothers in war-torn Ukraine by training 88 nurses and doctors to identify signs of perinatal depression; continuing a project in Tanzania to make it easier for health workers to diagnose and treat childhood illnesses; and working in India to improve care for underserved mothers and children by training 4,200 health workers in more than 280 facilities.
What it means: Among the most significant highlights of 2024 was the nonprofit’s work to expand access to HPV vaccines that prevent cervical cancers, a disease that kills more than 350,000 women annually, primarily in low- and middle-income countries. Through partnerships with vaccine manufacturers and other global health organizations, PATH supported research showing that a single dose of an affordable HPV vaccine can provide strong protection. The findings helped influence the World Health Organization’s recommendation for one-dose HPV vaccination schedules, opening the door for millions more girls and young women to be protected. It also took a leadership role in the U.S.-funded Saksham project in India, an effort that reached more than half-a-million pregnant women with lifesaving care in underserved communities.
What happens next: PATH, which receives much of its funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation), is now developing its 2030 Plan with the goal of universal health coverage. It is looking to tweak some programs and launch others. “We’re looking at how we can develop vaccines, drugs and diagnostics that are accessible and affordable in developing countries,” Schneider says. “So, whether that's for infectious diseases like HIV or TB or malaria, or if we're looking at epidemics, how can we be ready for the next Covid and have products that are able to meet needs?” This past year PATH also launched a new Center for Policy and Advocacy in Seattle that works closely with its advocacy team in Washington, D.C.
Tomorrow: An in-depth interview with Kammerle Schneider.
