Innovation is saving lives

New report highlights successful health innovations in developing countries and offers guidance for innovators.

Forside innovation report

OSLO, NORWAY (12 September 2011): Practical innovation in developing countries has already helped to save lives and improve the health of millions of women and children. But it has the potential to do much more. This is a key message of Innovating for Every Woman, Every Child, a new report published as part of the Global Campaign for the Health Millennium Development Goals.

The report was published online by the Lancet today with a commentary  by Tore Godal, Special Adviser to the Prime Minister of Norway for Global Health and Richard Klausner, Managing Partner of The Column Group, San Francisco, USA.

It describes how simple but innovative ideas can be “game changers”, giving women and children access to health care where previously they had none. For example, ColaLife has developed a system for distributing essential medicines – such as anti-diarrhoea kits for children under five – to hard-to-reach rural areas in Zambia. The medicines will be placed in specially designed AidPods and will piggyback on an existing soft-drinks distribution network.

The growing influence of mHealth solutions – based on mobile-phone technology – is another theme of the report. For example, Cell-Life uses SMS text messages to encourage South African mothers to bring their babies to clinics for HIV testing.

Successful health innovation does not have to involve new technology. It can also centre on the application of established skills in new ways. In India, the Aravind Eye Care System has adopted assembly-line principles that enable its eye surgeons to perform about 2000 surgeries a year, against a national average of 400.

Innovating for Every Woman, Every Child refers to many other examples of health innovation from around the world. It also offers a practical guide to innovators and entrepreneurs who hope to work with leaders in the public, private and non-profit sectors to improve the health of women and children. The key objectives are to reduce maternal mortality, achieve universal access to reproductive health and eliminate avoidable child mortality.

The report carries forewords from United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.

- Innovation requires hard work; when low-hanging fruit have been picked, we must reach for the higher branches. Such is the case today with global public health, says Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations

- Improving the health of women and children contributes extensively to economic development, which in turn contributes to better conditions for women and children. Collaboration between the public and private sectors will be important to realize this potential, says Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg of Norway

Much of the report emphasizes the importance of basing new health interventions on sustainable business models, rather than targeting regional or national scale for its own sake.  It includes 10 case studies of projects and enterprises that have proven their viability, or promise to do so in the near future.

The report was published by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, sponsored by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) and produced by Dalberg Global Development Advisors.

About the Global Campaign for the Health Millennium Development Goals

In New York on 26 September 2007, Norway’s Prime Minister, Jens Stoltenberg, stood beside other global leaders to launch the Global Campaign for the Health Millennium Development Goals. In accordance with Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5, the Campaign attaches special importance to the health of women and children, whose needs remain the most neglected. 

The Global Campaign consists of several other international initiatives, all seeking to accelerate progress towards achieving the health MDGs together with all major stakeholders and global funds.  Among these is the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health (Every Woman, Every Child) launched by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon at the UN Leaders’ Summit for the MDGs in September 2010. For more information, visit everywomaneverychild.org.

About the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation

The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) is a directorate under the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and a secretariat for the Global Campaign for the Health Millennium Development Goals on behalf of the Norwegian government.

About Dalberg Global Development Advisors

Dalberg Global Development Advisors is a strategic consulting firm that works exclusively to raise living standards in developing countries and address global issues like climate change. 

The firm works with governments, foundations, international agencies, non-governmental organizations and Fortune 500 companies to help disadvantaged and underserved populations around the world.  For more information, visit dalberg.com.

Annexes

The annexes to the Innovation Report are intended to give innovators and entrepreneurs more information about the kinds of opportunities that may be available to them and the forums where they may interact with potential partners, advisors, and funders.

Overview of Commitments to the United Nations Secretary-General’s Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health (PDF)
This document demonstrates the breadth and depth of the resources committed to the Global Strategy by governments, international donors, foundations, and other organizations. It also gives a broad idea of the focuses chosen by each of the funders.

 

Women’s and Children’s Health: Needs and Challenges (PDF)

This fact sheet from the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health offers a visual summary of the priorities for addressing gaps in health care for women and children.

Contributions

Some of the world’s leading experts on innovation and health have contributed short essays on their areas of expertise to add context and content to the Innovation Report.

The need for innovation in the health sector
Margaret Chan – Director-General, World Health Organization

Health needs of low-income countries
Claire Pierre – Health Sector Leader, Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission

Health needs of middle-income countries
Julio Frenk – Dean, Harvard School of Public Health

Engaging the base of the pyramid
Shivinder Mohan Singh – Managing Director, Fortis Healthcare

Business models for large companies
Paul Ellingstad – Director of Global Health, Office of Global Social Innovation, HP

Business models for small companies
Al Hammond – Senior Entrepreneur, Ashoka

Business models for non-profits, hybrids, and public-private partnerships
Gina Lagomarsino – Managing Director, Results for Development Institute

How government can promote innovation
Sania Nishtar – Founder and President, Heartfile

How the private sector can promote innovation
Daniella Ballou-Aares – Co-Head of Global Health Practice and Regional Director for North America, Dalberg Global Development Advisors

How non-governmental organizations can promote innovation
Teguest Guerma – Director-General, African Medical and Research Foundation

How academic and research institutions can promote innovation
Anne Mills – Head of the Faculty of Public Health and Policy and Professor of Health Economics and Policy, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Case studies

The Innovation Report contains ten case studies of business models that are operating at scale or quickly moving in that direction. Many more business models are also showing great potential to bring useful innovations into the mainstream of the health sector. Here is a broader selection of case studies, including more organizations that have participated in the Innovation Working Group.

ChildCount+ and OpenMRS/Millennium Villages Project and the Earth Institute at Columbia University (PDF)

CommCare/Dimagi (PDF)

Conditional Cash Transfers/Interactive Research & Development (IRD) (PDF)

DHIS2mobile/University of Oslo (PDF)

GAVI AlliancE (PDF)

HMO to the Poor/Naya Jeevan (PDF) 

LAICO/Aravind Eyecare System (PDF)

Mass Media Campaigns/Development Media International (PDF)

MOTECH/Grameen Foundation (PDF) 

Netbooks for Auxiliary Nurse Midwives/Vidya Pratishthan Institute of Information Technology and Intel(PDF)

openXdata/University of Bergen (PDF)

Project Mwana/UNICEF (PDF)

RapidSMS and mUbuzima/Government of Rwanda (PDF)

Useful Links

These websites can help innovators and entrepreneurs to connect with each other and with potential partners in the public, private, and non-profit sectors.  They can also offer guidance in the creation of business models.