Building Business Platforms to Catalyze Action and Impact for Nutrition
In London last Saturday, the global community came together to catalyze action around the Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit. Since UK Prime Minister Cameron pushed for a multi-stakeholder approach to tackling malnutrition at the Olympic Hunger Event he co-hosted with the Government of Brazil last year, actors from across the public and private sectors have […]
G8 Nutrition for Growth
UK Prime Minister David Cameron spoke about the role of foreign aid in reducing poverty and malnutrition. Originally given at G8 Nutrition for Growth conference on Saturday, 8 June 2013. This is the text of the speech as drafted. There will be a lot of people talking about statistics today. I want to start by […]
MeraDoctor: Reaching Rural Households with Trusted Health Advice
MeraDoctor is providing reliable health advice over the phone in rural India, where licensed doctors are scarce. It has been a life-saving health intervention for many patients who have found that treatments prescribed by unqualified health agents—called “quacks” in India—are ineffectual, or even harmful. For example, one customer, a 26-year-old woman who was eight months […]
Registries for ALL – Redesigning Patient-Researcher Relationships with an Open-Source Database
Registries for ALL (Reg4ALL) is part of a movement to transform the relationships between health data, patients, and researchers. As “the world’s first ever participant-controlled, cross-disease registry for health and disease data,” the Reg4ALL platform enables patients to share their health data and connect with researchers who need participants for clinical trials. The platform is […]
The Hunger Alliance: Investing in Small-Scale Women Farmers
There’s already enough food in the world for everyone, but one person in eight goes hungry every night, and 2.3 million children die needlessly each year from malnutrition. What can be done about it? A report published by the Hunger Alliance suggests investing more in small-scale women farmers would be a good start. Three quarters […]
Improving Access to Oral Healthcare: A Robust Business Model for a Self-Sustaining Nonprofit
Sarrell Dental is arguably the only highly successful, self-sustaining non-profit dental practice in the nation. It has accomplished what many in the U.S. health industry had thought impossible—providing dental care to children covered by Medicaid, while running a top-notch, growing business and lowering the cost of care to the government. Sarrell Dental works in the […]
A WaterFirst Health Model – Delivering Healthcare in Emerging Markets
HealthPoint Services’ “WaterFirst” sells inexpensive, clean water to prevent water-borne illnesses in remote communities in India. But villagers who visit HealthPoint units to buy water get a lot more: they can also purchase health commodities like sanitary pads, condoms, and nutritional supplements for pregnant women. Villagers can also access health services like vaccinations and diagnostic […]
GSK & Save the Children Partnership: From Ambition to Action
The High Level Panel on the post-2015 development framework submitted its report yesterday (Thursday 30 May), giving the first indications of the settlement that will replace the Millennium Development Goals when they expire two years from now. The debate has featured discussions on everything from plankton abundance to WiFi access, but one issue that stands […]
Challenging Kenyan Agribusiness to Bring More Nutritious Foods to Local Markets
Following the World Health Assembly’s 66th annual meeting in Geneva last week, one prominent question should be on every participant’s mind: “Is what we are eating contributing to a healthy world?” As leaders and families especially in poor countries struggle to ensure there is a meal on the table, we should not lose sight of […]
The Battle against Snail Fever: The Business Sector’s Perspective
It is safe to say that most people aren’t familiar with schistosomiasis, or for that matter, many of the maladies the World Health Organization collectively refers to as neglected tropical diseases. The second most prevalent parasitic infection after malaria, schistosomiasis affects more than 200 million people – approximately half of whom are children – who […]
UK Government must increase investment in agriculture to end global hunger
We Parliamentarians of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Agriculture and Food for Development are calling on the UK Government, and specifically the Department for International Development (DFID), to invest in agriculture to combat the hunger that 925 million people around the world are undernourished face every day. Our latest Parliamentary Report, on “Home Grown […]
Meeting Nutrition Commitments in Latin America
Nestlé Executive Vice President and Head of Zone Americas (AMS) Last week I attended the World Economic Forum on Latin America in Peru, where discussion will focus on the theme of ‘delivering growth and strengthening societies’. In a region where many countries shoulder what’s known as the ‘double burden’ of malnutrition, one way to strengthen […]
“NUTRIENTS FOR ALL” – Bringing Together Solutions for a More Vital People and Planet
The current food systems in poor and wealthy communities alike increasingly deplete the land and fail to supply the micronutrients that are essential to human capacity and success. Over two billion people suffer from the “hidden hunger” of malnutrition, while one billion more are over-fed and still suffering poor health. This undermines wellness, exacerbating a […]
Business, Health and the Road Ahead
I remember chatting a year ago with Deepak Chopra, the holistic health leader, in the Green Room of the annual GBCHealth Conference. GBCHealth is a coalition of companies that are addressing global health issues, and Deepak was surprised to see such a wide range of committed businesses in deep conversations on improving the health of […]
Improving Healthcare through Game-Changing Business Models
What better way to improve healthcare than through game-changing business models that have the potential to transform the industry? Ashoka Changemakers and Boehringer Ingelheim are partnering to find ideas that allow businesses throughout the world to Transform Health Systems. Finding innovative ways to change how healthcare is delivered and sustained is critical if the industry […]
Living Goods – the “Avon of pro-poor products”
Photo credit: Esther Havens By Susannah Hares, Head of Innovation, ARK International Tim Harford, in his quite brilliant book Adapt, said: “Few company bosses would care to admit it, but the market fumbles its way to success, as successful ideas take off and unsuccessful ones die. When we see the survivors of this process – […]
Access to Nutrition Index Calls on Businesses to Improve Their Nutrition Practices
, Executive Director, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition Obesity and undernutrition affect over 3 billion people and are among the world’s most pressing public health concerns. Efforts to address them are vital to ensure that people around the world can live healthy and productive lives. The launch of the Access to Nutrition Index (ATNI) this […]
Toilet Teachings: 2 Toilet Ventures Illustrate Strategies For Success In Inclusive Business
I’ve leant more than I ever expected about toilets the past 6 months. But understanding toilet ventures has taught me a lot about how inclusive business works. In fact, the challenges and innovations that we can see in two sanitation projects in slums of Kenya and India illustrate typical issues for businesses that are solving […]
Nutrients for All – Thriving Ecosystems for Productive, Resilient Food Systems
Natural ecosystems ensure that vital nutrients flow from soils to food to people. Thriving ecosystems are the bedrock of healthy nutrient chains, the basis of all life on the planet. So what’s the issue? Degraded by human activity like unsustainable agricultural practices, ecosystems around the world and their capacity to regenerate are threatened. This escalating […]
Nutrients for All: Vitality in Soil, Food, and People
Being fully nourished is a must for good health, but did you know that the carrot you’re eating today probably has far fewer vitamins and minerals than a carrot grown 50 years ago? Soil depletion, as a result of unsustainable farming methods, is a primary culprit. Another cause of depleted nutrients has been the breeding […]