On September 21, PATH will receive the 2009 Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize. The $1.5 million prize is the world’s largest humanitarian award and recognizes a nonprofit organization that is making exemplary and extraordinary contributions toward alleviating human suffering. We are truly excited and humbled to receive the award and to join an esteemed list of Hilton Prize laureates.

We also recognize that our accomplishments depend on the people in the developing world who are using PATH’s technologies to bring health within reach for everyone.

Consider the experience of Nurse Emily, who works at Vihiga District Hospital in Kenya. Nearly every day she sends pregnant women home with a dose of nevirapine syrup in case they can’t make the journey back to the hospital to give birth. The women are HIV positive, and the syrup can protect their babies from getting the virus during birth.

Health workers used to struggle to find ways to keep the medicine safe as women carried it home and stored it. Then PATH developed a sealable foil pouch that keeps the medicine clean and protected. Now, as Emily hands the simple pouch to expectant mothers, she sees new hope for the lives of children in her community.

With the Hilton Prize, we plan to bring even more optimism to communities like Emily’s. We’ll use the Prize funds as innovation capital to support new initiatives in areas we’ve identified as critical to PATH’s mission: accelerating innovation in product development and introduction; bringing to scale essential health solutions and programs; and expanding our field presence, especially in Africa.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter and visit our website, www.path.org, to learn about the world’s most pressing health needs and to watch our progress as we continue to find solutions for health and hope.

-Scott Jackson, Vice-President of External Relations at PATH, 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. For more information, please visit www.path.org.

Photo caption: PATH President Chris Elias accepting the award from Steven Hilton with Bill Gates, Sr. looking on.