DESCRIPTION:

The 2010 earthquake in Haiti was the second deadliest earthquake of all time. With a magnitude of 7.0 Mw, 220,000 people were killed, and more than 250,000 homes were destroyed. In the earthquake’s aftermath, many Haitians desperately needed medical care. In December 2010, the GE Foundation made a $2 million commitment to help build a new public hospital that would be Haiti’s largest post-earthquake public health facility. Hector E. Aguilar, CEO of GE Central America & The Caribbean, discusses the GE Foundation’s role and the opening of the hospital.

Q: Why did the GE Foundation get involved in Haiti?

A: We have a long-standing commitment to disaster relief. In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, the entire GE family provided more than $5 million in relief efforts, including grants from the GE Foundation and equipment donations.

Q: Tell us about the hospital.

A: The Hôpital Universitaire de Mirebalais – or HUM as we call it – will provide free access to quality healthcare for tens of thousands of Haitians every year.  HUM offers primary care services to a catchment area of 185,000 people in Mirebalais and two nearby communities. Patients from central Haiti and areas in and around Port-au-Prince also will be able to receive care. This facility will offer a range of services from HIV/AIDS and TB care to general and orthopedic surgery.    

Q: What specifically did the GE Foundation give to the hospital?

A: We made an unconditional commitment to give essential medical equipment and technical assistance to support the multiple needs of Mirebalais Hospital. When the in-patient unit of the hospital is open, the equipment we gave will improve care delivery and enable medical staff to diagnose, treat and manage trauma, maternity cases, and acute illness. Over the past year as we completed the installation of the equipment, we trained the hospital staff on the operation and basic maintenance of the equipment. We also provided a conducive teaching environment, including support from GE employees, to train medical practitioners in Haiti in an effort to make HUM sustainable.

Q: How did you go about identifying these areas?

A: Our first priority in these situations is to make sure we are meeting local needs. That is why we partnered with the Haitian government and Partners in Health (PIH) over the last 3 years to identify critical gaps and deliver the appropriate technology. We also partnered with Assist International to work with our local GE teams to do the installation of the equipment, as well as training. Through our “GE Ambassador” program, we will continue to support this facility in utilizing the technology to improve services for patients.

Q: When will the hospital open?

A:  It’s a phased approach. Right now, HUM is treating Haitians with out-patient services including adult medicine, pediatrics, chronic care/non-communicable disease clinic, and women’s health. The timeframe for the opening of the in-patient services is to be determined with the Haitian government. When open, the hospital will have general surgery, emergency services, maternity, and hematology/oncology services.  The hospital has 300 in-patient beds and 500 out-patient beds.

Q: How is GE currently involved?

A: This Sunday, I will be participating in HUM’s “Celebration of Partnership” event. Hye Sun Na from GE Healthcare is also here with me as the new “GE Ambassador” to HUM. Hye will help support HUM as it begins to use the new equipment to provide services. Haiti’s Minister of Health, Dr. Florence Guillaume, along with PIH co-founders Paul Farmer and Ophelia Dahl and the senior leadership of HUM will be speaking at the event. Nearly 165 VIP guests from the U.S. and abroad are traveling to Haiti to attend. In addition, more than 50 Haitian dignitaries and business executives will also attend the ceremony.

Q: Aside from equipment donations and employee expertise, what has GE been able to bring to HUM?

A: Partners in Health, the lead NGO running the project, has told us that as a result of GE signing on as a partner early on and being so generous, they were able to open many more doors and leverage significant in-kind contributions as a result.  Once other corporations like HP, Stanley, Fuji, etc. were told of GE’s participation, they were more interested in being involved.

Read this Q&A on Haiti's largest public sector hospital on GE Citizenship's blog, Thoughts from Stakeholders.

Tweet me: #Haiti’s Largest Public Sector Hospital Opens with Support from @general_electric #GEFoundation http://3bl.me/wgx59a

KEYWORDS: Haiti, hospital, GE foundation, Health, Q&A, HIV, AIDS, NGO, HUM, tb

DESCRIPTION:

If you build it, will they come?: GE scientists have used game theory to find the best place for a new hospital.

About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) is an advanced technology, services and finance company taking on the world’s toughest challenges. Dedicated to innovation in energy, health, transportation and infrastructure, GE operates in more than 100 countries and employs about 300,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.ge.com.

Citizenship at GE is more than a program or a set of good intentions - it is a full-time commitment built upon cultural behaviors and actions. These actions are integrated with business strategy and have defined goals, strategies and metrics that make it actionable and accountable.

Tweet me: Advanced Manufacturing: @GEHealthcare #Corvix http://3bl.me/gy84n3

Contact Info:

General Electric
citizenship@ge.com

KEYWORDS: Health and Wellness, Technology. Innovation & Solutions, hospitals, GE healthcare, corvix, Healthcare, Health, Big Data, data, game theory

DESCRIPTION:

Back in January, TechCrunch reported that GE would be partnering up with healthtech startup incubator StartUp Health and selecting 13 consumer healthcare startups (originally 10) to participate in a three year program designed to nurture and accelerate their growth. After a two month screening process, today they’re announcing those 13 finalists.

The application process, which began in January, took in more than 400 applications from 22 countries. The 13 companies that were selected will then be closely mentored by GE and StartUp Health over the next three years.

The companies will participate in the program for free, in exchange for 2 to 10 percent equity ownership by GE and StartUp Health’s Innovation Fund. They’ll each be partnered with a GE executive that will help them get in touch with experts and resources within GE. GE and StartUp health also promises that the selected companies will receive plenty of exposure to potential investors and VC’s.

Read more about GE and StartUP Health's Entrepreneurship Program on TechCrunch.

Tweet me: .@general_electric and @startuphealth Select 13 Companies For Entrepreneurship Program http://3bl.me/2a24ad

KEYWORDS: Business & Trade, Health and Wellness, Startup Health, GE, entrepreneurship, Health, consumer healthcare

SUMMARY:

• Four GE employees recognized with the prestigious Phillippe Award for outstanding community service
• 13 Impact Awards given to GE Volunteers Councils for exemplary community projects
• GE Aviation’s David L. Joyce honored with the 2012 Corinne Johnson Volunteer Leadership Award for championing volunteer engagement

DESCRIPTION:

Volunteerism is deeply rooted in GE’s culture and is a pillar of our corporate citizenship. With roughly 300,000 employees worldwide, GE has tremendous capacity to contribute to the communities where we work and live. Last year, GE Volunteers in 55 countries gave 1.3 million hours of service to their local communities. Almost every day, GE employees demonstrate good citizenship through meaningful volunteer projects across the globe.

Once a year, GE Volunteers are recognized for their outstanding community service with the Phillippe and Impact Awards for individual and team efforts. One GE Leader is honored for championing volunteer engagement with the Corinne Johnson Volunteer Leadership Award.

“Our employees give countless hours of time and expertise, and build personal relationships with organizations that help communities grow and thrive,” said Bob Corcoran, Vice President, GE Corporate Citizenship. “Hearing about the many ways GE volunteers are making an impact in their neighborhoods always makes me proud to lead our citizenship efforts and proud to work for GE.”

This year’s awards were presented by Jeff Immelt and Bob Corcoran at the annual GE Volunteers Global Leadership conference. Close to 90 participants from more than 20 countries gathered for the conference, with 55% of the attendees coming from outside the U.S. The emphasis of the meeting was on skills development for GE Volunteers Council Leaders. This included strategic tools to enhance employee engagement and best-practice sharing.

Gerald L. Phillippe Awards

The Gerald L. Phillippe awards are GE’s most prestigious recognition of individual volunteerism and personal civic involvement. Since 1970, GE has presented the Phillippe Awards in memory of the former GE Board Chairman who was widely known for his efforts to help the underprivileged and to advance higher education for minority students. Phillippe Award winners are able to designate a grant to a nonprofit organization of their choice.

This year, four employees were chosen from 42 nominees worldwide as Phillippe Award winners:

André Elmer, GE Aviation, Brazil

With a strong commitment to children, Andre has been a dedicated volunteer for many years, participating in every project undertaken by the local council.

Daniel Feldmann, GE Aviation, Ohio, USA

For years, Dan has been providing hands-on help and leadership to a nonprofit group that offers therapeutic horseback riding for individuals with disabilities.

Corinne Schuft, GE Power & Water, France

Corinne combines a love of baking with her compassion for the elderly by involving them in pie baking activities at a long-term care facility.

Junita Siregar, GGO, Indonesia

Since the inception of GE Volunteers in Indonesia, Junita has invested more than 10,000 volunteer hours and enlisted many others for a wide variety of activities.

To read more about the Phillippe Award winners click here.

The Corinne Johnson Volunteer Leadership Award

The GE Corinne Johnson Volunteer Leadership Award was created in 2008, in memory of Corinne Johnson, a GE Aviation business leader and avid supporter of local community engagement. This award is given to a GE leader who champions the cause of employee engagement in their communities through their own involvement and support of employee volunteering. 

This year’s Corinne Johnson award goes to David L. Joyce, President and CEO of GE Aviation, for his demonstrated commitment and engagement in community activities, and for his encouragement of employee volunteerism. In 2012, David created GE Aviation’s Purpose Awards, recognizing outstanding employee teams worldwide, including GE Volunteers, domestically and globally.

To read more about the Corinne Johnson award winner click here.

Impact Awards

The Impact Awards recognize exemplary employee volunteer projects managed by a GE Volunteers Council in the areas of Education, Environment, Health and Community Building. Winners are determined based on the uniqueness of their projects, the scope of their employee engagement, and on their measurable and sustainable impact.

A team award is presented to the winning GE Volunteers Councils and cash grants are provided to nonprofit organizations selected by the award winners.

This year’s Impact Award winners are:

Education

School Facility Improvement — Indonesia Council

GE Volunteers teamed up with a major GE Aviation customer and local villagers to improve an early-childhood care facility in Gunung Sari Village.

KnowAtom – USA, Lynn, Massachusetts Council

A GE Volunteers project that introduced an innovative STEM curriculum to grades 3–5 is now the core science curriculum in all Lynn elementary schools.

GirlsGetSet – United Kingdom Council

GE Volunteers are encouraging girls to pursue science, engineering and technology careers through a series of workshops, projects and mentoring.

To read more about the Education Impact Award winners click here.

Environment

Mayor’s Challenge – Global Community Day – USA, Cincinnati, OH Council

GE Volunteers were instrumental in creating and growing this corporate service day into an annual large-scale community event to beautify the city.

To read more about the Environment Impact Award winner click here.

Health

Mid-Day Meal – Food for Thought – India, Bangalore Council

GE Volunteers worked with a nonprofit partner to provide healthy meals to economically challenged children, which helped them to stay in school.

Fun Run – United Arab Emirates, Dubai Council

GE Volunteers worked with local agencies and with HealthAhead to plan and organize a fundraising and awareness event for children with special needs.

Developing Health – New Horizons – USA, Greenville, SC Council

GE Volunteers partnered with the local GE affinity networks to execute many effective skills-based projects in leadership development, IT, Finance and HR.

Child Cancer Care – Switzerland Council

For 10 years, GE Volunteers have organized special fun outings for children with cancer, while giving their parents a much needed break and a chance to unwind.

To read more about the Health Impact Award winners click here.

Community-Building

GEV Community Day – Australia/New Zealand Councils

More than 800 GE Volunteers participated in 94 projects in one day: from painting and planting, to serving meals and sorting clothes for the needy.

Celebrating 115 Years of Good Actions – Mexico Councils

Marking 115 years of GE in Mexico, GE Volunteers built 115 houses for poor families, installed lighting in 115 schools and read more than 115,000 hours with their families.

Greenhouse Project – Kenya, Nairobi Council

GE Volunteers helped install greenhouses in schools in several communities to introduce sustainable farming practices in the context of climate change.

Milwaukee Annual Community Service Day – Milwaukee, WI Council

More than 2,800 employees dedicated over 22,000 hours to help prepare 20 schools for the new school season, the largest single-day volunteer event at GE.

Teestube Schwaz – Austria Council

GE Volunteers provided a traditional holiday party to families at a homeless shelter, where they have been coordinating and serving hundreds of meals a year.

To read more about the Community Building Impact Award winners click here.

To read more about all the GE Volunteers award winners and to share their stories click here.

Tweet me: #Awards for Outstanding #GEVolunteers http://3bl.me/2x3wgd

KEYWORDS: Education, Environment, Events, Conferences & Webinars, Health and Wellness, Human Resources, ge volunteers, awards, Volunteering, recognition, Employee Engagement, environment, community, Health

DESCRIPTION:

May 6, 2013 /3BL Media/ - “Men anpil, chay pa lou,” a Haitian proverb meaning “many hands make the load light,” embodies the spirit that helped build Hôpital Universitaire de Mirebalais (HUM), just 30 miles north of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

The vision for HUM grew after the country’s 2010 earthquake, when the Haitian Ministry of Health asked Partners In Heath (PIH) and its sister organization, Zanmi Lasante, to revamp existing plans for a small community-based hospital. PIH looked to hundreds of people and organizations in Haiti, the United States, and around the world to make this hospital a reality.

“This hospital underlines our commitment to the country and people of Haiti, which is stronger than ever after the earthquake,” said Dr. Paul Farmer, co-founder of PIH.

Now the largest reconstruction project completed in Haiti’s public health sector, HUM is the result of countless supporters sharing one goal: to build a top-tier teaching hospital in Haiti’s Central Plateau.

On Sunday, April 28, individual, corporate, and foundation donors will gather in Mirebalais, Haiti, to celebrate the hospital and see the impact of their contributions on those already receiving outpatient care at HUM.

“Hôpital Universitaire de Mirebalais will not only provide world-class health care to the people of Haiti, but will contribute to the country’s sustainable future with significant employment opportunities,” said Ben Stiller, co-founder with David Zwirner of Artists for Haiti, which contributed $2.7 million to cover HUM’s start-up costs.

“Paul Farmer has been a huge source of inspiration behind Artists for Haiti, and we are excited to support Partners In Health in its continued efforts to bring quality health care to the country,” Zwirner said.

HUM is a public Ministry of Health facility, built in partnership with Partners In Health/Zanmi Lasante.

“This state-of-the-art ‘green’ facility represents a significant investment in the quality of health services for the Haitian people,” said David Meltzer, chief international officer and general counsel for the American Red Cross, which contributed $5.5 million to help fund construction. "We recognize that there is an immediate need to repair the pipeline of medical professionals in Haiti, and this hospital addresses the crucial demand for state-of-the-art in-country training."

In addition to making high-quality medical care accessible to Haitians in the Central Plateau, HUM will continue strengthening Haiti’s public health infrastructure through medical education for doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals.

“This hospital is proof that through public-private partnerships, we can provide sustainable, quality healthcare to a region that needs it most,” said Bob Corcoran, president and chairman of the GE Foundation. GE Foundation provided training and medical equipment for maternity cases, trauma, and acute illnesses, as well as a cutting-edge teaching environment to train practitioners.

Several classrooms on the hospital’s second floor are equipped with high-speed Internet and video-conferencing capabilities that will enable Haitian nursing and medical students to participate in lectures at U.S. medical schools.

“The best medical advice from healthcare experts around the world will be available at the click of a mouse,” said Gabi Zedlmayer, vice president Sustainability and Social Innovation at HP. Funding from HP allowed PIH to outfit the hospital with a high-capacity server rack that provides connectivity across the campus via thin clients, wireless access points, and VoIP phones. Twelve HP workstations are situated throughout the hospital, equipped with 27-inch monitors to enable teaching opportunities in the operating rooms and optimum radiology image viewing.

HUM’s high-tech infrastructure and communications systems will not only improve medical care and education, but will ensure that future generations of Haitian doctors and nurses are highly trained.

Read more about this hospital on the Partners in Health website.

Tweet me: From Vision to Reality: Hôpital Universitaire de Mirebalais #Haiti #GE #PartnersinHealth http://3blmedia.com/node/36142

KEYWORDS: Haiti, hospital, Health, GE foundation, Partners In Health, PIH, American Red Cross

DESCRIPTION:

Karl Blight is the general manager of GE Healthcare UK and wrote this article for the Guardian.

Innovation and GE have been synonymous ever since the company was founded by Thomas Edison who aligned several businesses to bring innovation to the marketplace. He called the resulting organisation Edison General Electric Company, which in 1892 merged with a competitor to form General Electric Company.

From commercial light bulbs to early x-ray machines, and right through to the world's first high definition MR system, pioneering innovation has been the platform on which GE has grown.

Perhaps more than many other industries, healthcare desperately needs innovation to meet the serious challenges and demands it now faces. An ageing population, rising obesity and rising chronic disease provide the backdrop to global healthcare today.

In 2009, GE committed to tackle global healthcare challenges through an initiative we called 'healthymagination', where we innovate to provide better health for more people by improving quality, access and affordability.

Read more about what GE Healthcare is doing for the future of innovation on the Guardian.

Tweet me: #Innovating for the future of #healthcare: what @GEHealthcare is doing http://3bl.me/nrhfcb

KEYWORDS: Technology. Innovation & Solutions, Health, Healthcare, GE healthcare, Innovation, Technology, wellnes, Guardian

DESCRIPTION:

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell had just delivered a speech to employees of General Electric last fall in Columbus, Ohio, when he and GE chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt began discussing what could be done to make football safer, particularly the treatment of concussions.

Both played high school football, so Goodell and Immelt felt particularly engaged.

"Jeff and I share a love of football, and we've spent a lot of time talking about what it's meant to both of us in building our character, our values and how we use a lot of the things we've learned on the football field in our jobs today," Goodell said Monday. "We were talking about our challenges, and player health and safety is No. 1 for us. Jeff reached out and said, 'I want to help. I want to make a difference.' "

The conversation led to a $40-million joint investment by the NFL and GE toward concussion research. Goodell and Immelt announced the venture Monday at GE headquarters in Manhattan. The Under Armour Corp. also is involved in the partnership and will launch an initiative to attract entrepreneurs to find new ways of dealing with brain injuries.

Read more about the research by GE and the NFL at Newsday.

Tweet me: .@NFL, @general_electric ally to fund concussion research http://3bl.me/dxdvt4

KEYWORDS: Health and Wellness, concussion, Research, R&D, Health, Wellness, NFL, sport, GE

SUMMARY:

GE Foundation, Kaiser Permanente, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Proteus On-Demand and BD invest in Haiti's recovery

DESCRIPTION:

February 25, 2013 /3BL Media/ - The ribbon-cutting ceremonies for two new public health buildings in Haiti’s capital city mark another milestone in the country’s recovery and rebuilding since the 2010 earthquake. The buildings will be used by Haiti’s Ministry of Public Health and Population (MSPP or Ministère de la Santé Publique et de la Population), MSPP’s Division of Epidemiology, Laboratory and Research (Direction d’Epidémiologie, de Laboratoire et de Recherches or DELR) and the Haiti office of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as they work to strengthen the country’s public health systems.

“'Building back better’ isn’t just a slogan, it’s a reality in public health. These buildings represent an important step forward to save lives in Haiti. We are grateful to the CDC Foundation and their generous partners for their support and collaboration following one of the worst natural disasters in history,” said Dr. Tom Frieden, CDC Director. “These new buildings have an importance far beyond their physical presence—they will serve as a basis and catalyst for programs that will save literally tens of thousands of lives.”

The two new buildings help in the transition of Haiti’s MSPP from temporary to permanent facilities following the earthquake.

One building replaces the MSPP facility destroyed in the earthquake. This building will serve as a central office from which public health activities will be managed in Haiti by Dr. Florence Guillaume, Minister of Public Health and Population, and her staff. The second building for MSPP’s DELR is located in the National Public Health Laboratory (Laboratoire National de Santé Publique) complex and houses a portion of MSPP’s surveillance, epidemiology and laboratory staff and CDC’s staff in Haiti, who are now working side-by-side in the country. Haiti’s Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP) is housed in the building as well. FETP is a CDC effort that works with ministries of health, along with other partners, to train public health workers to detect, investigate, and control threats to public health. The FETP program in Haiti was established after the earthquake.

CDC Foundation partners financed the buildings through donations and in-kind support. The building for Haitian DELR and CDC staff was funded by a $2 million contribution from the GE Foundation and a $500,000 contribution from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Kaiser Permanente donated $587,000 for the MSPP central office. Partner funding for both buildings also provided furnishings, fixtures, electronics, computers, printers, and internet connectivity. In-kind contributions were provided by Proteus On-Demand to increase the size of the MSPP building and make enhancements within the facility.

“We are grateful that our partners recognized the need for a comprehensive response to the earthquake in Haiti and for their generous contributions to build these new facilities,” said Charles Stokes, president and CEO of the CDC Foundation. “As CDC’s nonprofit partner, the CDC Foundation is positioned to help CDC and its public health partners secure crucial resources. This effort is an example of how public-private partnerships can make significant contributions to benefit public health.”

Representatives from the U.S. Embassy, Haiti’s MSPP, CDC, the CDC Foundation and the group of project funders gathered at the ribbon-cutting ceremony in Port-au-Prince. Also recognized at the ceremony was medical technology company BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), which last year donated more than 1.7 million syringes and 15,000 BD™ sharps collectors for a national measles and rubella immunization campaign in Haiti.

MSPP’s Dr. Guillaume said, “These investments are another positive action helping to move Haiti’s public health system from the disaster and recovery phase into a longer-term solution. Importantly, these two new buildings have encouraged additional investments. As an example, the investments by the CDC Foundation’s partners in our new MSPP building helped leverage additional support from the United Nations (UN) and USAID for an expanded MSPP complex. When this complex opens, it will include an additional 11 buildings to house 250 Haitian public health workers. Altogether, these investments will create synergies to better serve the public health needs of the Haitian people.”

Haiti has faced tremendous challenges following the 2010 earthquake, which took more than 200,000 lives and displaced over 2 million Haitians. Haiti’s MSPP demonstrated foresight in working to address emergency response needs while initiating long-term strategic plans that are improving health in Haiti.

According to CDC, Haiti is expanding public health services beyond those in place before the earthquake:

• There are now twice as many people on treatment for HIV than before the earthquake.
• HIV testing of pregnant women has increased by 55 percent.
• The government has trained technicians who are routinely testing water and providing education about improved sanitation throughout the country. 
• Vaccination rates for children are nearly twice as high. Before 2010, measles vaccine coverage was just 47 percent. Following the recent 2012 campaign, 91 percent of children sampled were vaccinated against measles-rubella.
• Three new vaccines are being introduced that will prevent the deaths of thousands of children.
• Haiti is on track to eliminate lymphatic filariasis. For the first time mass drug treatment is beginning to protect the entire population, which has been at risk from this permanently disabling, disfiguring, and painful disease. Known as elephantiasis, LF is caused by worms and carried by infected mosquitoes.

These achievements were detailed in a recent Lancet commentary (article included in press kit) by CDC, “Cautious optimism on public health in post-earthquake Haiti.”

Established by Congress, the CDC Foundation helps the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) do more, faster, by forging effective partnerships between CDC and corporations, foundations and individuals to support CDC’s 24/7 work to fight threats to health and safety. The CDC Foundation manages approximately 200 CDC-led programs in the United States and in countries around the world. For more information, please visit www.cdcfoundation.org.

Tweet me: CDC Foundation’s $3.2 Million Partnership Strengthens Haiti’s Public Health Infrastructure http://3bl.me/tkmked

KEYWORDS: People, Social Action & Community Engagement, Technology. Innovation & Solutions, cdc, GE, Partnership, Health, Haiti, public health, infrastructure

DESCRIPTION:

The rural health clinic in Kimalamisale, Tanzania, sits at the end of a rutted sandy road some 160 miles from the nearest large town of Kisarawe. Although the brightly colored concrete structure serves thousands of villagers living in the surrounding savannah, it has no electricity and its main healthcare equipment includes a stethoscope, weighing scales, and a blood pressure machine.

Things changed last spring, when a trained nurse arrived with Vscan, a pocket-size ultrasound machine manufactured by GE. Her visit was part of a research study designed to test technological innovations that will contribute to the Government efforts to accelerate attainment of Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 in Africa. The study was developed by Tanzania’s Ifakara Health Institute in partnership with GE’s healthymagination campaign.

In Tanzania, hemorrhage, obstructed labor, sepsis and other pregnancy complications cause 454 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. That’s more than three times above a U.N. Millennium Development Goal of 133 deaths by 2015.

Ifakara trained a total of 14 nurse midwives in ultrasound scanning. They fanned out across the Kisarawe district, population 230,000 of which 28 percent are women of reproductive age, to five rural clinics like the one in Kimalamisale, a health center, and a district hospital. “Newborn and maternal health is the most critical health issue in Africa, ahead of malaria or AIDS,” says Janeen Uzzell, Director of Healthcare Programs for healthymagination in Africa. “We want to show that GE is committed to the lives of mothers and babies in Africa.”

Similar studies had been done in rural Bangladesh and Indonesia, but Africa presented additional challenges. The rural clinics in Tanzania rely on solar panels for electricity, lack telephone service, and suffer from bad roads and no ambulances. But using a process called “reverse innovation,” the team was able to power Vscan by solar panels and let professionals use in the village after just 10 days of training. “In Africa, what the product actually enables is what matters the most,” says Uzzell.

The program used local doctors to train nurses who had not used ultrasound before. It includes rigorous quality control “to make sure that the nurses are doing what we want them to do,” says Kallol Mukherji, GE Program Manager in Tanzania.
Mukherji, who helped run similar projects in Asia, says that he was initially surprised when the women in Tanzania showed no emotional reaction to the images on the ultrasound screen. “They thought that we uploaded the picture beforehand,” he says. “They did not believe that you could actually see your baby before it’s born through a device.”

That may soon change. The Vscan is already helping healthcare professionals in Ethiopia, and Ghana recently signed an order to purchase 400 of the machines. Uzzell is now working with Nigeria’s Ministry of Health’s Saving One Million Lives initiative to reduce neonatal mortality in the country’s northern region. “We don’t just have a product,” Uzzell says. “We have a visualization tool that can help change maternal and newborn health in Africa.”

Tweet me: Family Matters: @general_electric #Technology Helps #Healthcare Providers in Africa http://3bl.me/pb8n2z

KEYWORDS: Technology. Innovation & Solutions, GE, Technology, Health, Healthcare, africa, vscan, maternal health, Innovation

DESCRIPTION:

The rural health clinic in Kimalamisale, Tanzania, sits at the end of a rutted sandy road some 160 miles from the nearest large town of Kisarawe. Although the brightly colored concrete structure serves thousands of villagers living in the surrounding savannah, it has no electricity and its main healthcare equipment includes a stethoscope, weighing scales, and a blood pressure machine.

Things changed last spring, when a trained nurse arrived with Vscan, a pocket-size ultrasound machine manufactured by GE. Her visit was part of a research study designed to test technological innovations that will contribute to the Government efforts to accelerate attainment of Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 in Africa. The study was developed by Tanzania’s Ifakara Health Institute in partnership with GE’s healthymagination campaign.

In Tanzania, hemorrhage, obstructed labor, sepsis and other pregnancy complications cause 454 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. That’s more than three times above a U.N. Millennium Development Goal of 133 deaths by 2015.

Ifakara trained a total of 14 nurse midwives in ultrasound scanning. They fanned out across the Kisarawe district, population 230,000 of which 28 percent are women of reproductive age, to five rural clinics like the one in Kimalamisale, a health center, and a district hospital. “Newborn and maternal health is the most critical health issue in Africa, ahead of malaria or AIDS,” says Janeen Uzzell, Director of Healthcare Programs for healthymagination in Africa. “We want to show that GE is committed to the lives of mothers and babies in Africa.”

Similar studies had been done in rural Bangladesh and Indonesia, but Africa presented additional challenges. The rural clinics in Tanzania rely on solar panels for electricity, lack telephone service, and suffer from bad roads and no ambulances. But using a process called “reverse innovation,” the team was able to power Vscan by solar panels and let professionals use in the village after just 10 days of training. “In Africa, what the product actually enables is what matters the most,” says Uzzell.

The program used local doctors to train nurses who had not used ultrasound before. It includes rigorous quality control “to make sure that the nurses are doing what we want them to do,” says Kallol Mukherji, GE Program Manager in Tanzania.
Mukherji, who helped run similar projects in Asia, says that he was initially surprised when the women in Tanzania showed no emotional reaction to the images on the ultrasound screen. “They thought that we uploaded the picture beforehand,” he says. “They did not believe that you could actually see your baby before it’s born through a device.”

That may soon change. The Vscan is already helping healthcare professionals in Ethiopia, and Ghana recently signed an order to purchase 400 of the machines. Uzzell is now working with Nigeria’s Ministry of Health’s Saving One Million Lives initiative to reduce neonatal mortality in the country’s northern region. “We don’t just have a product,” Uzzell says. “We have a visualization tool that can help change maternal and newborn health in Africa.”

Tweet me: Family Matters: @general_electric #Technology Helps #Healthcare Providers in Africa http://3bl.me/pb8n2z

KEYWORDS: Technology. Innovation & Solutions, GE, Technology, Health, Healthcare, africa, vscan, maternal health, Innovation