LUSAKA, Zambia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 21, 2026--
Zinc Saves Kids, a global child‑health initiative of the International Zinc Association (IZA), has announced a new partnership with leading Zambian pharmaceutical manufacturer Pharmanova Zambia Limited to expand access to life‑saving zinc treatments for children across Zambia.
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The collaboration was formally celebrated during a ceremony in Lusaka with the Zambian Ministry of Health, Pharmanova Zambia Limited, and IZA represented by Environment Health & Sustainability Director Dr. Eric Van Genderen.
IZA and Pharmanova have united in an effort to scale up treatment for childhood diarrhea using zinc, an essential micronutrient that strengthens immune systems and reduces the severity and duration of diarrheal disease. The need is urgent: more than 30% of Zambia’s population is zinc‑deficient, leaving children especially vulnerable to diarrhea, pneumonia, and malaria. Globally, 116,000 children are estimated to die from zinc deficiency related issues every year.
Through this partnership, every dollar donated to Zinc Saves Kids will directly support the distribution of Kit Yamoyo, the “Kit of Life,” which includes oral rehydration salts (ORS) and a ten‑day supply of zinc tablets. Zinc and ORS are recommended by the World Health Organization for the treatment of diarrhea. Each kit provides a complete treatment for diarrhea and helps prevent future illness.
“IZA is thrilled to work with Pharmanova to address zinc deficiency, which weakens the immune systems of at‑risk children and leaves them vulnerable to diarrhea, pneumonia, and malaria,” said Dr. Van Genderen. “Zinc is critical to healthy mental and physical development, and this partnership is an important step toward improving child health in Zambia.”
The first tranche of donations already has supplied 50,000 zinc and oral rehydration kits to Zambian children. Distribution is being conducted through the government’s Healthy Learners program, which operates in schools nationwide and focuses on reaching rural and underserved communities.
Pharmanova, established in 1980, developed Kit Yamoyo to combat childhood diarrhea and has previously partnered with agencies including USAID and UNICEF to expand access to essential medicines.
“There is a great need for Kit Yamoyo across Zambia and beyond, so we are pleased to have the opportunity to work with the International Zinc Association, which has a long history of addressing zinc deficiency worldwide,” said Mohammed Umar, CEO of Pharmanova. “We envision a long and fruitful partnership with Zinc Saves Kids.”
Launched in 2010, Zinc Saves Kids works to raise awareness of global zinc deficiency and supports programs focused on supplementation, food fortification, and treatment. The partnership with Pharmanova marks a significant expansion of the initiative’s reach, which has previously raised more than $4 million to provide life-saving research, education, and treatment related to zinc.
About the International Zinc Association
The International Zinc Association (IZA) is the only organization dedicated exclusively to the interests of zinc and its users. As the voice of the global zinc industry, IZA provides global leadership, coordination, and value on strategic issues for the zinc industry, including market development, license to operate, communications, and sustainability.
About Pharmanova Zambia Limited
Pharmanova Zambia Limited has been at the forefront of the Zambian pharmaceutical manufacturing industry since 1980, providing a diverse range of essential products aimed at enhancing health, hygiene, and overall well-being for Zambia and the region. Pharmanova operates three manufacturing sites strategically located in Lusaka, the capital city of Zambia.
Life-saving zinc-supplementation and oral rehydration salts kits are proactively distributed to Zambian children through the works of the International Zinc Association, Pharmanova, and the Zambian Ministries of Health and Education.
OXNARD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 21, 2026--
GAKO Technologies today announced its official launch from stealth, unveiling the automotive industry’s most comprehensive VIN-level intelligence platform for new vehicles. Built over two years and engineered for enterprise decision-making, the platform delivers real-time, vehicle-specific visibility into pricing, incentives, payments, vehicle specs, and inventory—while providing the structured, machine-learning-ready datasets required to power AI initiatives across the automotive ecosystem.
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As the industry accelerates investment in artificial intelligence, one challenge remains constant: AI is only as good as the data that fuels it. GAKO Technologies was built to solve that foundational problem—by creating a true VIN-level system of record that reflects live market behavior and can be deployed across AI, machine learning, and advanced analytics use cases.
Unlike legacy automotive datasets that rely on delayed aggregates or inferred proxies, GAKO’s patent-pending technology captures competitive dynamics at the individual vehicle level. The result is a precision intelligence layer that serves not only as an analytical platform, but as foundational infrastructure for AI-driven decision systems.
“Everyone wants to build AI,” said Jose Galvan, President and Founder of GAKO Technologies. “But without clean, structured, real-time data at the VIN level, AI simply amplifies bad assumptions. GAKO was built to be the intelligence backbone that fuels AI across automotive—giving our partners data they can trust, model, and deploy at scale.”
Redefining Automotive Market Intelligence for the AI Era
GAKO Technologies’ platform currently covers all new-vehicle VINs nationwide and is continuously refreshed to reflect live market conditions. The data is normalized, structured, and delivered in formats optimized for machine learning, predictive modeling, and anomaly detection—enabling customers to plug GAKO directly into existing AI pipelines or internal data science environments.
The platform supports high-impact use cases across automotive lease, finance, retail, and strategy, including:
Proprietary VIN-Level Indices Powering AI Models
At the core of the platform are two proprietary, VIN-level indices designed to convert complex market signals into standardized, AI-consumable features:
Consumer Value Index (CVI)
A VIN-level metric that quantifies how compelling a specific vehicle’s value proposition is relative to its direct competitors in real time—answering: “How competitive is this exact vehicle right now?”
GAKO Score Index (GSI)
A payment-efficiency index measuring how much vehicle value a consumer receives per dollar of payment—enabling true lender-to-lender comparisons at the VIN level and serving as a powerful input for AI-driven affordability and risk models.
Key Platform Highlights
A Breakthrough for Auto Finance, Retail, and AI-Driven Decisioning
For lenders and credit unions, GAKO’s VIN-level intelligence enhances AI-powered loan-to-value modeling, improves payment and risk calibration, and supports fraud and anomaly detection. OEMs gain a clearer, data-driven foundation to power AI initiatives around payments, incentive effectiveness, pricing strategy, and market competitiveness. Dealers, dealer groups, brokers, and fleets benefit from AI-ready data aligned precisely to their inventory and regional markets.
“The future of automotive decision-making is AI-driven,” Galvan added. “But AI without the right data is guesswork. GAKO Technologies exists to give the industry the data foundation required to build AI systems that actually work.”
GAKO Technologies plans to expand coverage to pre-owned vehicles by Q1 2027 and to enter the Canadian market shortly, thereafter, further extending its role as a VIN-level intelligence backbone for automotive AI.
About GAKO Technologies
GAKO Technologies is a data intelligence company powering the next generation of automotive decision-making. Through patent-pending technology, VIN-level analytics, and AI- and machine-learning-ready datasets, GAKO delivers unmatched clarity into vehicle markets. The company serves automotive OEMs, lenders, agencies, analysts, dealers, dealer groups, fleets, brokers, and mobility innovators with the intelligence required to build AI systems, navigate complexity, and outperform the market.
GAKO Technologies President & Founder Jose Galvan
