[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 126 (Wednesday, September 9, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2226]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  MARKING PATH'S AWARD OF THE 2009 CONRAD N. HILTON HUMANITARIAN PRIZE

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                           HON. JIM McDERMOTT

                             of washington

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, September 9, 2009

  Dr. McDERMOTT. Madam Speaker, I am proud and very pleased to rise 
today to inform the House of Representatives that the Washington State-
based international nonprofit organization PATH has received the 2009 
Hilton Humanitarian Prize--the world's largest humanitarian award--for 
its work to improve human health around the world. This annual award of 
$1.5 million from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation acknowledges and 
advances the work of organizations dedicated to the relief of human 
suffering. Today, the Prize recognizes PATH's use of innovative 
technologies to solve global health problems. PATH is making an 
enormous difference in the health and lives of people around the world, 
and this award very appropriately affirms that work.
  Headquartered in Seattle since its inception in 1977, PATH has helped 
to make Washington State an emerging center for global health solutions 
and life-changing innovations. PATH works in more than 70 countries to 
tackle the most critical health issues, from malaria to HIV/AIDS to 
deadly childhood diseases. PATH shares its experience with policymakers 
and government partners through staff in its Washington, DC, and 
Bethesda, Maryland, offices.
  PATH has pioneered sustainable, culturally relevant solutions to 
vexing health problems, 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, and these changes, in turn, significantly improve global 
health and well-being.
  PATH has received long-term support from the U.S. government 
throughout its life to develop health technologies for low-resource 
settings. It makes sure that industrialized-world solutions can be 
modified to serve developing countries and thereby maximize health 
equity. PATH has adapted, developed, or co-developed more than 85 
technologies designed to improve the health and lives of people in low-
resource countries, even in the most remote areas of the globe.
  PATH's work to protect the lives of families and communities 
addresses international goals for improving maternal, newborn, and 
child health. For example, PATH paired the drug oxytocin--which can 
protect women from postpartum hemorrhage, the leading cause of maternal 
deaths--with its own invention, the Uniject device, a prefilled, 
single-use injection system. This combination allows women who give 
birth in rural health clinics or at home to receive a lifesaving dose 
of medicine when they desperately need it for survival. PATH also 
worked with a U.S. company to develop a small sticker called the 
vaccine vial monitor that changes color when temperature-sensitive 
vaccine has been exposed to heat, which often happens in resource-poor 
areas challenged with keeping medicines cool. This simple sticker means 
health workers don't have to guess whether vaccine has been damaged, 
and families can be assured their children are receiving potent, and 
often life-saving, vaccine.
  These technologies are just two examples of how PATH provides 
imaginative solutions to ensure that important medicines and critical 
health interventions reach the people who need them most.
  Profound health inequities persist around the world, but PATH's 
enlightening work shows us that solutions are at hand to solve the 
world's greatest health challenges. Please join me in applauding PATH's 
outstanding achievements and its selection as the winner of this year's 
Hilton Humanitarian Prize.

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