Weekly News Roundup
News, Events and Observations about Health Markets in the Developing World
The CHMI team would like to wish a happy holiday season to you and yours! Our Weekly News Roundup will be on hiatus next week and will return on January 6th. Happy (early) New Year!
General News
The Gates Foundation and Grand Challenges Canada are pairing up to create a handheld device that doctors could use to diagnose patients far from medical labs. “The battery-powered devices could be taken into remote areas to take samples from patients and provide analysis on various illnesses”, such as malaria and diarrheal disease. A device such as this has the potential to be a lifesaving tool in remote areas of developing countries, where access to diagnostic tests is extremely low.
The Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR) recently highlighted the efforts of the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) to research and map the new wave of for-profit businesses that are benefiting low-income communities in Brazil. ANDE found that roughly 60% of the small and medium enterprises they surveyed targeted households with monthly incomes of less than $170. One such enterprise, Projecto Cies, aims to increase access to quality healthcare services to lower income communities in Brazil by bringing trucks stocked with medical equipment and trained healthcare professionals to underserved areas.
Uganda is attempting to cut down on the number of health professionals’ that practice in Uganda without a license. “Earlier this month, the Uganda Medical and Dental Practitioners Council (UMDPC)’ launched its new mobile directory, which offers Ugandans with mobile phones the ability to verify a health worker’s or a health facility’s qualifications.”