GE model addresses global health crisis

MANILA, Philippines - The state of global health today is a study in contrasts. Developed countries are enjoying a wave of progress in science and medicine. But in the developing world, there remains an acute crisis of disease and poverty, with enormous gaps in maternal and infant care in particular.

GE has created a model for addressing the global health crisis that’s driven by innovations in planning, implementation and sustainability.

Since 2004, Developing Health Globally, an initiative from GE, has been combining product resources, engineering expertise and best practices drawn from business to create holistic “enterprise solutions” for health facilities in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia.

Through DHG, GE has invested $40 million in more than 100 hospitals and clinics in 13 countries, an effort that has affected an estimated 4.8 million lives.

In the process, the company has also created a model for addressing the global health crisis — a model that’s driven by innovations in planning, implementation and sustainability.

The first step in this approach is to define the needs of each country by working with local ministries of health.

Tim Reynolds, project and infrastructure consultant for Assist International, has been involved in DHG projects in Cambodia, Ghana, Honduras, Rwanda and other countries.

“GE starts with a countrywide assessment of selected hospitals to determine the specific equipment needs of each facility,” said Reynolds.

GE teams then create appropriate equipment configurations for local conditions. Assist International, a nonprofit humanitarian organization with more than two decades’ experience in the developing world, gets the gear to the hospital, where GE engineers and specialists install the units and train local clinicians.

But this delivery model is not only about getting up-to-date equipment and basic user training where it’s needed. The model also aims to bring medical expertise to the countries in which DHG operates.

Rachel Moresky, an emergency physician and assistant professor at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, directs the Systems Improvement at District Hospitals and Regional Training of Emergency Care (sidHART e) program, another GE partner.

Using GE-donated equipment, sidHART e trainers teach medical providers to use available resources to treat cases locally rather than automatically referring patients to more advanced facilities in distant cities.

Of course, modern medical machines are of little use if they’re not working, and according to the World Health Organization, at least half of the laboratory and medical equipment in “resource poor” settings is partially or completely out of service at any given time.

To improve on that dismal statistic, GE has partnered with Engineering World Health, a nongovernmental organization based in the United States, to implement a three-year training program for biomedical equipment technicians in Cambodia, Ghana, Honduras and Rwanda.

Local technicians are taught more than 100 basic technical assistance and troubleshooting skills, and they learn to make creative use of whatever resources are available.

Agnès Binagwaho, minister of health in Rwanda, said, “The GE program has been very helpful in terms of medical equipment maintenance and the training of local personnel to keep that equipment operating.”

The broader engineering mindset that drives the seemingly simple techniques put to use in the program could have a far-reaching impact. Such gains could be duplicated in many other regions with similar needs, suggested Robert Malkin, a co-founder of EWH.