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A ‘Shared Value’ Success Story: How Mercy Corps is helping Tiendas de la Salud micropharmacies scale from 50 to 500 stores in rural Guatemala
In social enterprise, "shared value" often means bringing unconventional combinations of groups together to tackle the challenges of poverty. In this post, Mercy Corps CEO Neal Keny-Guyer describes how this approach helped a Guatemalan micropharmacy franchise scale up.
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- Health Care
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- public health
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Harvard Awarded $8.1 Million for Transparency Research on Health and Other Social Sector Outcomes
Harvard University researchers have been awarded $8.1 million for a five-year project to research the impact of community transparency and accountability initiatives on health and other social sector outcomes, beginning in Indonesia and Tanzania.
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- Education, Health Care
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- academia, public health, research
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Africa: Response to Polio Outbreaks Shows Global Eradication Plan Is Working
Just as we were seeing record-low cases of polio worldwide and coming closer than ever to eradication, 105 new cases of wild polio have been identified in Kenya and Somalia, raising new concerns about low coverage and inaccessible populations in that area. While the outbreaks are undoubtedly a setback, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) had anticipated that sporadic cases would occur in vulnerable settings during the final push for polio eradication, and it's noteworthy that the situation has been met with one of the quickest and most effective emergency responses to date.
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- Health Care
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Disruptive Innovation In The Poorest And Most Remote Places In The World
Editor’s Note: In advance of the many health-related discussions to take place in September at the Clinton Global Initiative, the Social Good Summit, UN week and other such events, the Skoll World Forum asked some of the world’s leading voices in global health to paint a comprehensive picture of key trends, challenges and opportunities to realizing healthcare access and treatment around the world. A new piece will be posted everyday through Friday, and you can view the entire series here.
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- Health Care
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- public health
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Needed: Boring Health Care Solutions: Does global health have an unhealthy fixation on innovation? (Bi-Weekly Checkup, 8/3/13)
Does global health have a decidedly unhealthy fixation on innovation? Is there too much focus on flashy technological solutions to persistent health problems, and not enough on the slow, “boring” approaches that often bring more lasting results? We discuss the issue in NextBillion Health Care’s Bi-Weekly Checkup.
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- Health Care, Technology
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Avon, Amway … Africa?: Can the direct sales agent model work for health goods at the BoP? Part 2
Direct sales agent models are generating a lot of buzz in BoP health care. By recruiting local sales teams to sell health products directly to their communities, social enterprises hope to improve health, provide an income for the salespeople – and make a profit. But can they overcome the challenges of working at the BoP? The SHOPS project studied several approaches in Africa, and lead researcher Michael Kubzansky discusses what works – and what doesn’t – in part 2 of our Q&A.
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- Education, Health Care, Social Enterprise
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Avon, Amway … Africa?: Can the direct sales agent model work for health goods at the BoP? Part 1
It’s not easy marketing health products to the BoP. Challenges range from remote distribution to customers’ limited awareness of the products’ benefits or correct usage. That’s why some companies are recruiting local sales teams to sell health products directly to their communities. But how can the Avon/Amway model work for low-margin goods at the BoP? The SHOPS Project analyzed five business models in Africa over 16 months. In Part 1 of this Q&A, lead researcher Michael Kubzansky describes its findings.
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- Education, Health Care, Social Enterprise
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Fighting HIV and Malaria in Uganda: Quality Chemical Industries produces low-cost antiretroviral drugs while spurring local manufacturing
Quality Chemical Industries produces low-cost antiretroviral drugs while spurring local manufacturing in Uganda. It has greatly increased the country’s access to malaria and HIV/AIDS treatment. The company is expanding, with hopes of exporting its drugs to other east African countries. But its growth has been held back by government subsidies of more expensive, imported drugs.
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- Health Care
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- public health