Social healthcare innovations selected for further research

© Monika Wisniewska - Fotolia.com

The initiative is a collaboration between the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) at the World Health Organization, the Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Cape Town's Graduate School of Business and the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at the University of Oxford's Said Business School.

"We were pleased with the number of submissions we received, operating in so many diverse countries. It is evidence of the amount of innovation taking place to address some of the most pressing challenges in infectious diseases of poverty," said Dr Beatrice Halpaap, Portfolio and Programme Manager at TDR.

"We believe that healthcare delivery systems in the global south can be transformed through the inclusive participation of different actors. Everyone has a role to play, whether a healthcare worker, entrepreneur, policy-maker or engaged citizen," explains Dr Lindi van Niekerk, Health Innovation Lead at the Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

Innovations

From the 179 submissions originating from 48 different countries, an independent panel of experts in global health, infectious diseases of poverty and social innovation reviewed all shortlisted nominations. The following 25 were identified as high potential solutions deserving further exploration and exposure:

Africa

• Barcoded Vaccination Card - Mother/child barcoded vaccination card with redeemable credit for farm inputs -Kenya
  
• BroadReach GP Down - Referral Model - Public-private partnership to address the demand-supply mismatch in the provision of public health care - South Africa
  
• Drug Shop Integrated Care - Integrated management of fever, malaria, pneumonia and diarrhoea in children at drug shops - Uganda
  
• Kheth'Impilo - Pharmacist assistant training and mentorship programme - South Africa
  
• Last Mile Health - Professionalising Community Health Workers to provide essential health care services to rural populations - Liberia
  
• LifeNet International - Primary care franchise bundles for church-based health centres - Burundi, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo
  
• Living Goods - Empowering micro-entrepreneurs to deliver life-changing products to the doorsteps of the poor - Uganda, Kenya
  
• One Family Health - Franchise model to improve access to quality basic care and preventative services - Rwanda
  
• Riders for Health - Supporting transportation of health workers to remote rural areas - Kenya, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, The Gambia, Nigeria
  
• Safe Water and AIDS Project (SWAP) - A microenterprise model to increase access to health products - Kenya
  
• Save the Children Malaria Programme - Malaria treatment program for schoolchildren in Malawi - Malawi
  
• Schistosomiasis Control Initiative - Prevalence mapping and mass drug administration for neglected tropical diseases - 17 countries across Africa
  
• SMS-Hub - Mobile-based leprosy case management system - Mozambique
  
• Sproxil - A mobile technology solution to verify the authenticity of anti-malarials - India, Kenya, Pakistan, Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania
  
• The Medical Concierge Call Centre - Tele-consultations and social media health messaging -Uganda
  
• Viva Afya - A hub-and-spoke model of low-cost primary care provision to low income communities - Kenya

Asia

• Embryyo Technologies - TB drug adherence monitoring - India
  
• mDOC - Using technology to support pharmacy assistants in providing treatment and tele-consultations in rural areas - Bangladesh
  
• Mobile-based Surveillance Quest using IT (MoSQuIT) - Disease surveillance system for malaria using a mobile platform - India
  
• Noora Health - Utilising family care givers as a mechanism to increase hospital and home healthcare provision - India
  
• Operation ASHA - Last mile delivery to the bottom of the pyramid - India, Cambodia
  
• Partners in Leprosy Action (PILA) - Community health skin programme to support leprosy detection - Philippines
  
• Social Entrepreneurship for Sexual Health (SESH) Global - Creative contributory contests to develop HIV messaging - People's Republic of China

Latin America

• Living Labs - Community engagement strategy to control Chagas disease - Paraguay
  
• Oswaldo Cruz Foundation - Indigenous Community Health Workers professionalisation - Brazil

Representatives from the Bertha Centre and Skoll Centre will visit the innovation teams over the next four months. "We want to learn from and engage with these innovators, connect them to local and international policy-makers and support them to scale their work across contexts and regions," said Dr Pamela Hartigan, Director of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship.

Selected innovators will be asked to share their solutions at a TDR forum at the World Health Organization, their work will be included in a publication and they will be considered for a 1-year modular Global Health Innovators Fellowship hosted at the University of Cape Town and Oxford University.