Articles 1 to 5 of 31
Can New Delivery Models Help Fix India's Health Care Woes?
The statistics tell a stark tale: India's population is 1.2 billion and growing. The country has a GDP of US$1.85 trillion but health care spending is only about 5% of that. India's nine hospital beds per 10,000 people are far from adequate. Although much attention is focused on infectious diseases like malaria or HIV, incidences of chronic or "lifestyle" ailments such as diabetes and heart disease are growing. At the recent Wharton India Economic Forum held in Philadelphia, a panel of experts discussed various models for the country to capitalize on its own innovation and expertise to deliver affordable care to those most in need.
Mobile Medical Vans: Overcoming India's Last-mile Health Care Challenges
Some 700 million people live in India's 636,000 villages, which have only 23,000 primary health care centers among them. The Wockhardt Foundation has started Mobile 1000, an initiative to provide free primary health care to remote regions in rural India using mobile medical vans. So far, it's working. But can it be scaled up?
Family Physicians Make a Comeback in India
Primary health care in India has been a rather neglected sector, suffering from poor quality and low service levels in many areas. As a result, patients tend to go to large hospitals for even the most basic health care needs, a practice that leads to unnecessary medical interventions and also higher medical spending. A new breed of entrepreneurs is now looking to revive the concept of the family physician in the country. The biggest challenge they face is attracting good doctors and the ability to scale their operations.
LifeSpring Hospitals: Providing Affordable, Quality Maternity Care to India’s Middle Class
India accounts for around 20% of maternal deaths worldwide. It has also failed to achieve its goal of reducing its infant mortality rate to 28 per 1,000 live births by 2012. A recent study says that the country will not reach this target until the end of 2016. There is urgent need for affordable and quality maternity and infant care in the country. LifeSpring, a chain of maternity hospitals, is looking to address this need. But it has challenges by way of attracting capital and management.
Using Innovative, Low-cost Solutions to Provide Safe Drinking Water in India
Safe drinking water is a precious commodity in India. According to a recent report released by UNICEF and the World Health Organization, 97 million people in India don’t have access to an acceptable drinking water source. The 2011 census estimates that over 50% of the households in India don’t have access to drinking water in their homes. Nonprofit group WaterHealth is trying to address this need with its innovative and low-cost solution.
