Accelerating Health Product Innovation in sub-Saharan Africa
This week, MRC researchers published an article in MIT Innovations Journal on how countries in sub-Saharan Africa can tackle their own health problems in an innovative way.
Based on background research and preliminary analysis of over one hundred in-depth interviews conducted by our team in Ghana, Tanzania, and Rwanda, this article lays out an ambitious yet achievable plan for a network of "convergence centers" - facilities which will bring together local scientists, entrepreneurs, business people, and investors to develop affordable health products and services focused on local health needs.
In combination with an associated venture fund and larger virtual network, these centers can tackle the gap in moving ideas from lab to marketplace, and build on growing economic strengths in several African nations. By linking with each other and with similar networks worldwide, a relatively modest investment into creating this critical infrastructure will help translate indigenous talent, capital, and know-how into positive health and economic impacts in a sustainable way.
This article is featured in a special issue of Innovations Journal called “Sharing the Health”. The issue includes case studies, analytic and policy articles, and a lead essay from Mr. Bill Gates’ Harvard University address – “Take on the Big Inequities” – with commentaries from leading scholars such as William Foege, Lawrence Summers and others. You will be able to subscribe to the entire issue at www.mitpressjournals.org/innovations/.