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A C-Section Should Not Be a Privilege: Expanding Access to Life-Saving Maternal Care
For every 100,000 live births, 814 women die in Nigeria, 725 die in Liberia, and 443 die in Zimbabwe. (For comparison, the U.S. has the highest maternal mortality rates in the developed world at 26.4). One major reason is limited access to C-sections – a persistent problem in low-resource settings, where health systems often lack the people, supplies and infrastructure to perform the procedure safely. Erin Barringer and Erastus Maina at Safe Surgery 2020 discuss this challenge, and how their partnership is successfully addressing it in remote parts of Ethiopia and Tanzania.
- Categories
- Health Care
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Hardware Innovation is … Hard: How These Entrepreneurs Overcame the Challenges
Compared with the creators of app-based products, hardware-focused innovators face a much more difficult and expensive journey, says Villgro CTO Arun Venkatesan. The resources and time required to perfect hardware iterations are larger, the lack of a mature ecosystem is a problem, and the buyer is often distinctly different from the user or beneficiary. Venkatesan profiles four hardware innovators in agriculture and health care, discussing how they worked through these obstacles.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Health Care, Investing, Technology
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In Pursuit of Universal Health Care: Time to Take Public-Private Partnership to the Next Level
Public-private partnerships (PPP) are receiving increased attention for their promise to broaden developing countries' capacity to achieve universal health care. But though this attention is good, Dr. Naveen Rao of Merck for Mothers says we also need action. He outlines concrete steps that can make PPPs an integral part of national health policies and harness the local private health sector – not just big multilateral organizations, multinational corporations and NGOs.
- Categories
- Finance, Health Care
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With the 2030 SDGs Looming, the Public and Private Sectors Team Up for Global Health
Global health funding is no longer the sole purview of local governments and international donors. Despite large contributions (nearly $8 trillion in 2013) from traditional donors, there is still a critical funding gap of $2.5 trillion annually – in developing countries alone – to achieve the U.N.'s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. Fortunately, public and private actors are teaming up to close that gap. Rachel Fowler of USAID discusses some intriguing examples, including a first-of-its-kind development impact bond aiming to reduce maternal and newborn deaths in Rajasthan, India.
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- Health Care, Investing
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USAID Announces A New Development Impact Bond
Launched Thursday, the Utkrisht Impact Bond, named for the Hindi expression for excellence, will fund maternal and newborn health in the Indian state of Rajasthan. DIBs are results-based contracts, in which investors — in this case UBS Optimus Foundation, a grantmaking organization focused on improving the lives of children — provide financing for social programs upfront.
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- Health Care, Investing
- Region
- South Asia
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How USAID is Capitalizing on New Trends in Development Finance by Attracting Impact Investors
As the funding landscape for global health evolves, new financing models for the development and commercialization of medicines and diagnostics are needed. Priya Sharma of USAID's Center for Accelerating Innovation and Impact discusses the agency's forays into impact investing, and its recent report, “Investing for Impact: Capitalizing on the emerging landscape for global health financing” in this Q&A.
- Categories
- Health Care, Investing
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The Complex Truth of Health Tech: Why Greater Ultrasound Availability Doesn’t Always Benefit Patients
Advances in health technologies have reshaped the lives of communities, families and individuals, undoubtedly contributing to better health outcomes around the world. Yet, despite their potential, new technologies can also add new challenges, risking potential gains in quality, safety or cost. Nowhere is this more evident than in the rapid spread of ultrasound devices, which according to representatives of the NGO Management Sciences for Health, carry a potentially significant downside.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
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The low-cost device saving newborns in India
Birth asphyxia – lack of oxygen – is the cause of 20% of newborn deaths in India. A simple piece of equipment is helping revive babies and prevent long-term damage.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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