Weekly News Roundup
News, Events and Observations about Health Markets in the Developing World
Program News
Two low-cost hospitals that provides high quality healthcare to low income communities in India, Vaatsalya and Eye-Q, were profiled in a recent Economic Times article for their entrepreneurial and innovative approaches to the provision of healthcare. Vaatsalya provides primary healthcare and ‘leases out pre-existing hospitals and other buildings and upgrades them to high quality hospitals’, where as Eye-Q is a chain of specialized eyecare hospitals that builds their own high-tech hospitals from the ground up. Congratulations to both ventures for the great coverage!
General News
A new report published by Advanced Development for Africa titled Scaling up Mobile Health looks at what elements are necessary for the successful scale up of mHealth projects in developing countries. MobileActive.org notes that ‘current policy environments, business models and funding schemes around mHealth have fueled the proliferation of pilot projects without enabling them to scale up in a meaningful, replicable way.” However, there are some success stories. To read more about the specific elements that successful programs share, read on.
Earlier this week, the New York Times published an Op-Ed titled Internet Access Is Not a Human Right, which asserts that contrary to the declarations of countries such as France and Estonia, and a report published by the United Nations, the Internet is not a human right. The piece goes on to say that “technology is an enabler of rights, not a right itself. There is a high bar for something to be considered a human right. Loosely put, it must be among the things we as humans need in order to lead healthy, meaningful lives, like freedom from torture or freedom of conscience. It is a mistake to place any particular technology in this exalted category, since over time we will end up valuing the wrong things.” An interesting read, particularly in light of the many ways in which the internet and mobile technology is being used in development contexts.
The Sustainable Enterprise Challenge, a contest focused on finding and funding sustainable enterprises focused on the BoP, has issued a call for applications and nominations. The challenge is looking for for-profit enterprises that can meet the needs of BoP communities and are looking to launch or scale the innovation in India. More after the jump.