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A New Battleground: Why Health Care Companies in Low and Middle-Income Countries Will Challenge Today’s Market Leaders
There's no question that today’s low- and middle-income countries will be a major part of health care businesses' portfolios. The only question, writes Paul Clyde, president of the William Davidson Institute, is which businesses will succeed at serving these customers. With local firms in these growing markets already competing for low-income customers, Clyde argues that multinationals will need to invest, sometimes weathering losses, to stay competitive.
- Categories
- Health Care
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Unlocking the Medical Equipment Donation Ecosystem: Is a Blockchain Marketplace the Solution?
Every year hundreds of thousands of dollars of medical equipment is donated to hospitals in emerging markets, only to remain unused due to lack of knowledge, parts or maintenance. According to Vikas Meka, a blockchain-based donation platform could help – but it would be difficult to entice stakeholders to use it. He explores a solution: A token-driven marketplace that could unlock new social and economic value in the medical equipment donation ecosystem.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
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Clean vs. ‘Clean Enough’: How the Clean Cooking Industry Can Overcome its Struggles to Scale
Access to clean cookstoves and fuels has only increased by 0.5% per year, well below all global development goals. To turn this trajectory around, Jessica Alderman at Envirofit International argues that the industry needs to resolve a high-stakes debate: Should it focus only on the cleanest solutions that have the greatest health and environmental impacts? Or should it fund and promote technologies that have lesser impacts - but that are more affordable and likelier to reach the people who need them most?
- Categories
- Energy, Health Care, Technology
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The Challenges of Going Local: A Medical Device Innovator Faces the Reality of Manufacturing in Rural Africa
Like many enterprises working in emerging markets, Noor Medical wanted to manufacture its product locally. As COO Andrew Bonneau explains, a local approach promised many advantages, from lower costs to a better understanding of its customers. But the company soon learned that manufacturing in developing countries like Uganda is often easier said than done. Bonneau discusses the obstacles the company has faced, and how they've overcome them.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
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Our Obsession with ‘Systems Change’ Leaves Marginalized Women Vulnerable – Let’s Empower Them to Advocate for Themselves
Last December, while driving through rural Uganda, KadAfrica founder Rebecca Kaduru was gravely injured in a car accident. Taken to the district hospital, she faced a stark reality: There was no doctor, no medications, not even gauze and sutures. The experience highlighted the barriers to women's empowerment in the country, where hospitals like this are often the best option for maternal health emergencies, and care is only available to those who fight for it. Kaduru explores why gender equality requires less focus on changing systems, and more on helping women advocate for themselves.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Health Care
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Bringing the Tech Revolution to Health Care: New Report Provides First-Ever Snapshot of Global Digital Health Ecosystems
As the role of technology in health ecosystems grows, the global health sector needs a data-driven approach to measure and improve the status of digital health structures. That's the goal of the Global Digital Health Index (GDHI), an interactive digital resource that tracks, monitors and evaluates how health care providers use digital technology. Joanne Ke Edelman at the Global Development Incubator explores how data collected from 22 countries for GDHI’s inaugural “State of Digital Health” report provides the first-ever snapshot of digital health ecosystems throughout the world.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
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What Needs to Change in the Indian Medical Devices Ecosystem for Innovators, Entrepreneurs and Patients
In India, imported products account for 80% of medical device sales, and most were developed for middle and high-income countries – far from India’s unique challenges of accessibility and affordability. In recent years, thousands of startups and innovators have emerged to build more affordable public health products. But Dhruv Pandey at Social Alpha writes that government and financing challenges will stop these innovators in their tracks unless entrepreneurs can find alternate paths.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Health Care
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A Closer Look at The World’s Largest Unaddressed Disability: Leveraging Inclusive Business to Eradicate Poor Vision
Uncorrected poor vision affects some 2.5 billion people, costing the global economy $227 billion a year in lost productivity. Yet though 90% of these people live in developing countries, the problem ranks low on the global development agenda – even though it can often be fixed by a simple pair of glasses. Jayanth Bhuvaraghan at Essilor explores the issue, and discusses an innovative solution: the Eye Mitra program, which trains youth in emerging countries to become micro-entrepreneurs, providing primary vision care and selling low-cost eyeglasses in their communities.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Health Care
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