Being an innovator is never easy. But tackling the needs of underserved patients and of health care providers in developing countries can be especially difficult. The idiosyncrasies of the health care sector, the contextual barriers found in resource-constrained environments, and the already-difficult-to-implement innovation process make entrepreneurship in global health time-consuming, expensive, and risky.
Complicating matters further, there’s a scarcity of useful resources specific to the complex field of global health. Most of the available information is in the form of human-interest stories that focus on the good intentions or ingenuity of the innovators, with little data provided about the mechanics of how ideas are implemented and almost no mention of failure.
To help address this gap in knowledge, researchers at Stanford spent approximately 18 months talking to students, faculty members, practitioners, funders, and others about their approach to global health innovation and, in particular, the challenges they have faced. This research was led by Stanford GSB as part of the Stanford Global Health Consortium: Innovation, Design, Evaluation, and Action (CIDEA). The project was funded by the National Institutes of Health grant 1 RC4 TW008781-01. We then captured those stories in a collection of mini-case studies that we call the Global Health Innovation Insight Series.
These cases, organized into six interrelated categories, are presented below in the hope that the lessons and discoveries documented in each one will help other global health innovators successfully design and commercialize products and services to improve the health of the world’s poor.
Identifying and Validating Needs
After watching a colleague struggle with the care of his mother when she was affected by fecal incontinence, the Consure Medical team began…
Incubators can prevent infant deaths from hypothermia, shorten hospital stays, and reduce the rate of neonatal complications that can lead to lifelong…
When a team at Stanford University accepted a challenge to design a low-cost prosthetic knee joint that could be produced locally for use in the…
Understanding Market/Stakeholder Dynamics
To help address the issue of unplanned pregnancy and maternal mortality in the developing world, researchers at the University of Georgetown’s…
Diagnostics for the Real World (DRW), a for-profit spinout from the Diagnostics Development Unit at the University of Cambridge, is focused on…
d.light design is a for-profit social enterprise whose purpose is to create new freedoms for customers without access to reliable power so they can…
Life Force Kiosks is a nonprofit that aims to reduce preventable waterborne diseases like typhoid, cholera, and diarrhea to save lives in the most…
Trevor Field, a retired British businessman and outdoor advertising executive, was deeply moved when he observed women and girls in rural villages of…
Getting to a Market-Ready Product or Service
In resource constrained settings, bubble CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) is emerging as a more affordable treatment option for children…
When team members at D-Rev — a U.S. nonprofit technology company with the mission to improve the health and incomes of people living on less than $4…
Consure Medical is committed to developing a solution that solves the problems inherent in existing fecal incontinence treatments yet is simple enough…
The Rice 360° Institute for Global Health Technologies seeks to design and implement technologies that improve health and reduce poverty. Beyond…
When 3rd Stone Design, a product design, strategy, and development consultancy, licensed the DoseRight Syringe Clip out of the Rice University Beyond…
The East Meets West Foundation (EMW) is an international development agency with the mission to transform the health, education, and communities of…
Globally, pneumonia kills more children than any other illness. In developed countries, pneumonia and other acute respiratory conditions are treated…
KickStart was founded by Martin Fisher and Nick Moon to design tools that would enable Africa’s poor to launch and sustain profitable businesses. Its…
The Mulago Foundation is a private foundation focused on the prospect of creating a better life for the world’s poor. Concentrated in rural settings…
To help address the burden of childhood asthma in developing countries, Respira Design created an asthma spacer that was produced from a single sheet…
Sales, Marketing, and Distribution
To help address the issue of unplanned pregnancy and maternal mortality in the developing world, researchers at the University of Georgetown’s…
d.light design is a for-profit social enterprise whose purpose is to create new freedoms for customers without access to reliable power so they can…
After observing too many unnecessary injuries and deaths caused by surgeries that were interrupted or canceled due to the unavailability of anesthesia…
Life Force Kiosks is a nonprofit that aims to reduce preventable waterborne diseases like typhoid, cholera, and diarrhea to save lives in the most…
KickStart was founded by Martin Fisher and Nick Moon to design tools that would enable Africa’s poor to launch and sustain profitable businesses. Its…
Maternova was founded in 2009 as a mission-driven for-profit organization with two main objectives: (1) to provide an online knowledge platform that…
In late 2006, the PATH Safe Water Project received a $17 million grant from the global development unit of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Its…
In late 2006, the PATH Safe Water Project received a $17 million grant from the global development unit of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Its…
Phoenix Medical Systems was founded to manufacture an incubator designed specifically to address the needs of low-resource healthcare providers in…
Phoenix Medical Systems was founded to manufacture an incubator designed specifically to address the needs of low-resource healthcare providers in…
Population Services International (PSI) was founded in 1970 as a nonprofit organization focused on improving reproductive health in developing…
After reading a newspaper article that predicted the spread of HIV through medical syringes, Marc Koska committed himself to addressing the threat of…
After reading a newspaper article that predicted the spread of HIV through medical syringes, Marc Koska committed himself to addressing the threat of…
Defining a Viable Business Model
Anacor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a for-profit biotech firm founded in 2002, which focuses on discovering, developing, and commercializing novel small…
When team members at D-Rev — a U.S. nonprofit technology company with the mission to improve the health and incomes of people living on less than $4…
To help address the issue of unplanned pregnancy and maternal mortality in the developing world, researchers at the University of Georgetown’s…
While attending Stanford, the Embrace team developed an idea for an innovative infant warmer to help low-birth-weight infants. The early prototype…
After observing too many unnecessary injuries and deaths caused by surgeries that were interrupted or canceled due to the unavailability of anesthesia…
The Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI) was founded by immunologist Steve Reed in 1993 as a nonprofit global health research center dedicated…
While enrolled in a course focused on entrepreneurship, a team of Stanford students set out to create a platform for developing-world healthcare…
When a team at Stanford University accepted a challenge to design a low-cost prosthetic knee joint that could be produced locally for use in the…
Having observed too many development projects that appeared successful at first, but then failed as soon as the development agency moved on, Martin…
The Mulago Foundation is a private foundation focused on the prospect of creating a better life for the world’s poor. Concentrated in rural settings…
In late 2006, the PATH Safe Water Project received a $17 million grant from the global development unit of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Its…
Population Services International (PSI) was founded in 1970 as a nonprofit organization focused on improving reproductive health in developing…
Securing Adequate Funding
Diagnostics for the Real World (DRW), a for-profit spinout from the Diagnostics Development Unit at the University of Cambridge, is focused on…
d.light design is a for-profit social enterprise whose purpose is to create new freedoms for customers without access to reliable power so they can…
KickStart was founded by Martin Fisher and Nick Moon to design tools that would enable Africa’s poor to launch and sustain profitable businesses. Its…
Vestergaard Frandsen (VF) is a for-profit company that operates under a humanitarian entrepreneurship business model. Committed to supporting the…
The Mulago Foundation is a private foundation focused on the prospect of creating a better life for the world’s poor. Concentrated in rural settings…