The growing pipeline of microarray patches (MAPs) for various infectious diseases treatment and immunization is a cause for engagement with stakeholders involved in health care given their potential to revamp healthcare service delivery, and contribute towards addressing some of the current barriers to care delivery. Yet, little to nothing is known about MAPs by most healthcare users and some providers.

The objectives of this May 31, 2024 webinar were to address these knowledge gaps and raise awareness about MAPs by:

• Providing a platform for researchers and other stakeholders working on MAPs to describe how MAPs work; how they can promote equitable access to health technologies for immunization, contraceptives and therapeutic medicine; and their limitations;
• Providing an update on the research and development pipeline for MAPs for treatment and immunization; their benefits over existing drug delivery modes; and their acceptability by end users; and
• Discussing the challenges to MAPs development, including upfront investment costs, logistics, the complexity of the manufacturing infrastructure, and regulatory requirements.

Speakers:

• Jessica Mistilis, Senior Technical Officer at PATH
• Dr. Rebecca Callahan, Research & Operations at FHI360
• Moushira El-Sahn, Director of Research at Routes2Results