Archive for Health

This story originally appeared in our March 10, 2011 e-magazine. Click here to subscribe.

By the Numbers

In 2009-2010, the Medical Advice, Quality and Availability in Rural India (MAQARI) Project conducted surveys to determine how many medical providers are available to average rural households.

1600

The number of villages where MAQARI implemented detailed surveys across 19 India states

6

The average per person availability of medical providers in 1,520 villages of rural India » Continue reading “Data: Toward a Healthy World”

This story originally appeared in our March 10, 2011 e-magazine. Click here to subscribe.

The growing industry of medical tourism is expected to be US$2bn by 2012 in India alone.

Currently, India is second only to Thailand in the number of tourists attracted by the lure of affordable medical treatments. India attracts 150,000 of these tourists each year.

According to estimates, that medical tourism industry is expected to get bigger. Experts estimate that the medical tourism market in India could grow from US$310m (INR13.9bn) to US$2bn (INR90bn) in 2012.

Medical tourism exists for patients from more developed countries, such as the United States and Canada, to travel to less-developed countries for medical procedures that are more affordable. In India, this is especially true. Procedures can often cost a quarter of what they cost in the developed world. For elective procedures where patients pay out-of-pocket, this price reduction is significant. » Continue reading “Travel for Treatment”

Malnutrition is a serious concern in developing countries. In Kenya, Edom Nutritional Solutions has developed a premixed porridge and a maize flour product to combat malnutrition. Beyond Profit talked to Winstone Edward Odhiambo, the Co-Founder and Managing Director, about the unique product and its future.

What exactly is the Edom solution?

Our solution lays emphasis on preventive approaches to tackle the root cause of malnutrition by manufacturing a protein, mineral and vitamin rich precooked porridge product and maize meal flour and avail them to the malnourished through affordable retail distribution in rural areas, low market urban areas and smaller outlets in the villages in smaller packs of 250 grams that the majority millions in the bottom tier of the socio-economic pyramid can easily access and afford. » Continue reading “Premixed Porridge Tackles Malnutrition in Kenya”

The Unreasonable Institute brings together 25 entrepreneurs with mentors and impact investors to help them jump start their enterprises. This year, 45 finalists were selected and final acceptance to the institute was based on an online fund-raising platform. Over the next two days, Beyond Profit brings you interviews with two of the enterprises that made it in.

BioSense Technologies’ pilot project, the ToucHb, is a non-invasive way to test for anaemia, which affects two billion people and accounts for one million deaths per year. Testing for anaemia is usually invasive, expensive, time-consuming and requires medical know-how. BioSense is trying to change all this to bring anaemia screening to poor areas. Beyond Profit talked to Abhiraman Viswambharan. » Continue reading “Unreasonable Interviews: BioSense Technologies”

This post is part of our ongoing partnership with GOOD Magazine. Post by Alex Goldmark of GOOD Magazine.

Much has been written about the CellScope, a device that turns your cell phone into a microscope, thereby enabling all manner of enhanced diagnosis for rural and poor communities around the world. And for good reason. The idea has all the hallmarks of hopeful innovation: New technology applied simply, it tackles a serious social problem, and boy does it have potential for scale. So what now? The team behind the tech is at a phase where they have to innovate in areas other than science if they want a real impact.

“We’re getting this out of the lab and into people’s hands,” says Dan Fletcher, professor of bioengineering at University of California at Berkeley and principal investigator for the CellScope project. » Continue reading “Can the CellScope Cell Phone Microscope Revolutionize Rural Health Testing?”

In India since 1949, private healthcare has grown from just 8% of healthcare services to 93% of hospitals and 85% of doctors. Private financing makes up 78% of total health spending, which is one of the highest in the world. Approximately 40% of India’s population must either borrow money or sell assets to pay for hospitalization and, each year, nearly a quarter of that number fall into poverty due to medical expenses.

In an article published last week by Guardian reporter Rosalind Miller, Indian cardiac surgeon Dr. Devi Shetty may have found a solution. Globally, Shetty has received acclaim as the chairman and founder of the Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospitals in Bengaluru, India, a 1,000-bed “heart factory.” Here, open-heart surgery costs significantly less than anywhere else in the world. Low-cost surgery is not Shetty’s only proposition: he provides free care to patients who cannot afford to pay and subsidizes their care by charging those who can pay a higher rate. The Bengaluru hospitals have coined the nickname “health city.” » Continue reading “The IKEA of Healthcare”

There’s no doubt that improving access to sanitation is one of the most important development efforts in developing countries—nearly half the world’s population does not have access to proper sanitation, and diarrhea kills 5,000 children a day. But a definitive way to achieve that access has yet to be found. What works in one place doesn’t work in another.

A few months ago, I wrote about a city in Nepal that requires residents to carry proof of a functioning toilet to apply for citizenship or to vote. » Continue reading “Does sanitation justify negative consequences?”

Beyond Profit is reporting from the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City this week.

Okay. Cookstoves are not sexy. Talking about cookstoves is not sexy. Writing about them is not sexy. But, maybe, just maybe, it will be now, with the launch of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves at the Clinton Global Initiative on Tuesday by US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Yesterday, during the announcement, we were pointedly reminded by Lisa Jackson, EPA Administrator, that women all over the world are still cooking in the 21^st century as they did in the 1st. “This,” Jackson said, “is the ultimate environmental justice issue.”

Why is this such a big issue? Try this. Next time you’re making dinner, do it over a stove that produces noxious fumes that make your eyes water and your throat burn. And then do it every day, maybe twice a day for the rest of your days, and see if you think it’s an issue. If that doesn’t convince you, consider the numbers; 2 million people die each year because of exposure to unsafe cook stoves. » Continue reading “All Hail the Clean Cookstove!”

We have recently entered into a partnership with The Better India. A great resource for those optimists out there, The Better India is devoted to highlighting the happy stories, unsung heroes and heroines, and small good deeds of the subcontinent. By showcasing these stories, The Better India, much like Beyond Profit, hopes to inspire us all to do something that leaves an impact. Small or large. But an impact.

The following is the first post in this partnership. Ranjini Sivaswamy reports:

Sittilingi is a remote village in Dharmapuri district, 125 km away from Salem town in Tamil Nadu, which used to be a god forsaken land caught under the spell of quacks and black magic. Noisy drums and fake injections were all they had to cure illnesses. This is when Dr. Regi and Dr. Lalitha took the plunge. This doctor couple went ahead to provide medical services to the tribals of Sittilingi, leaving their promising careers in the cities.

The couple found their calling in service to the underprivileged and wanted to use their knowledge where it was needed the most. Their hunt for the right place to offer their service ended at Sittilingi, a totally neglected and ignored tribal village. They ventured into the village, faced tough resistances and now they have emerged successful in establishing a full-fledged medical center for the tribals. A service beyond praises!

Regi and Lalitha called their service the Tribal Health Initiative (THI). Their perseverance and continued service has brought about dramatic change in the living conditions of the natives. Infant mortality rate in Sittilingi has reduced to 20/1000 and there are no mothers dying in childbirth for the past 5 years. The nutrition levels of children and the general well being of the people have improved to a great extent. » Continue reading “Doctor couple does wonders for tribals at Sittilingi”