Diarrhea Innovations Group

More than half a million children lose their lives to diarrhea each year. While safe, effective, and affordable treatment and prevention methods are currently available, they have not always been widely adopted and do not offer comprehensive protection against diarrhea’s long-term effects, such as malnutrition, stunting, and deficits in cognitive development. Together, these effects may contribute to a condition known as environmental enteric dysfunction (EED), which can devastate the health and productivity of communities around the world. The Diarrhea Innovations Group (DIG) seeks to defeat diarrhea and address these long-term effects through global collaboration.

What is the Diarrhea Innovations Group (DIG)?

DIG is a global network of innovators committed to reducing child deaths from diarrhea through the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic technologies and approaches. The group is a cross-sector representation of academic, nonprofit, public, and private members. Regular conference calls feature experts speaking on topics such as a potential intervention for EED; diarrheal disease burden measured in disability-adjusted life years; and liposome salt as the next generation of oral rehydration solution. DIG also holds two biannual meetings scheduled to coincide with existing meetings, such as the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Annual Meeting.

Why was DIG created? 

DIG aims to accelerate the development and adoption of new diagnostic and therapeutic technologies with the greatest potential to reduce child deaths from diarrhea, with an emphasis on countries in Africa and Asia that bear the highest diarrheal disease burden.

Goals

• Serve as a venue for members to share knowledge, exchange information, identify partnerships, and discuss new ideas, in addition to matching innovators with potential investors and partners.
• Provide a regular, bimonthly forum for crowd-sourcing solutions to bottlenecks, challenges, and other topics.

Download the DIG fact sheet.

Interested in joining DIG?

To join the network listserv, please email DiarrheaInnovations@PATH.org.

Recent highlights

• In response to an application submitted on behalf of DIG in November 2018, the World Health Organization to add co-packaged oral rehydration solution (ORS) and zinc to its essential medicines for children list in July 2019. 
• 2016-2018 in-person meetings at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Annual Meeting.
• First in-person meeting in Washington, DC. November 5, 2015.

Photo, top of page: PATH/Georgina Goodwin.