Photo: People waiting on vaccinations at Thelle Mogoerane Hospital. (Photo: Denvor de Wee/Spotlight) This World Aids Day we need to find opportunities for public health improvements in this decade This World Aids Day, South Africans are carrying the greatest HIV/Aids burden in the world, our country’s original pandemic. Yet, to combat COVID-19, our country has …
Type: Op-Eds
Opinion| Health Data Privacy Protection Is Pivotal To Health Equity In Africa
Opinion PiecesCloud computing, along with increasingly ubiquitous digital tools for collection, aggregation, and analysis of health data, offer substantial potential to help the African continent leapfrog many more mature systems in transforming healthcare and improving health outcomes. However, more rigour and attention must be focused on protecting the privacy and security of health data. Health data …
Lost in translation – how our language about COVID-19 can be misunderstood
Opinion PiecesWords have power, far beyond their literal meaning. The words we use to explain and alert the public about the COVID pandemic can contribute to misunderstandings and open the door to misinformation. I’ve spent the past 25 years in health and community development around the African continent and it’s clear that we must communicate simply …
Opinion | Health equity: A moral and economic necessity
Opinion PiecesHealth Equity is on my mind today. The worldwide healthcare ecosystem is abuzz with the term “health equity” these days; yet BroadReach Group has been addressing issues of health inequity since our founding in 2003. Most common industry definitions define health equity as when all people have a fair opportunity to attain their highest level …
Opinion: Pandemic Lessons from a Health Solutions Company
Opinion PiecesBroadReach has been preparing for this moment in time since our founding. Applying our 17 years of learning and investments, we defined and implemented a COVID-19 pandemic response around two dimensions: demand (screening, testing, contact tracing, and treatment) and supply (the health system, including facilities, workforce, and supply chains). From my own 30+ year journey …
Partner Opinion: Partnerships in Times of Crisis
Opinion PiecesThe current global crisis has highlighted a number of areas, from the need of efficient information management to the need of accurate data gathering for faster medical response. In looking at the role of technology during this period, one area that has stood apart in driving meaningful change is the role of partnerships. Today, more …
Opinion: Data science — the new normal in public health management
Opinion PiecesData science has begun to fundamentally change and improve the way many industries operate. This gives those in the global public health and the development sector an opportunity to learn from, adapt, and apply these techniques to address some of the most pressing challenges of our generation. While data has long been a fundamental tool …
Q&A: New BroadReach Group CEO on what it takes to lead
BlogsTo achieve universal health coverage, strong leadership is vital, according to Chris LeGrand, new group CEO for the data-driven, technology-enabled BroadReach Group and former president of DAI Global Health and CEO of Futures Group. “My philosophy is that everything starts and ends with leadership, that nothing actually happens without it,” said LeGrand, who has taken over from co-founders …
Achieving UHC with fourth industrial revolution technology
Opinion PiecesHealth care providers in emerging economies understand that the pursuit of universal health coverage by 2030 will place considerable pressure on already over-burdened health systems. The fundamental challenge is that demand greatly outstrips supply. Health care leaders operating at all points along the continuum of care understand that UHC by 2030 will require them to …
Why policy change is vital for tech innovation in social development programs
Opinion PiecesIt is only through creating a healthy ecosystem for social entrepreneurship that Africa can truly unlock the potential of technological social innovation to address the Sustainable Development Goals. Government policy, favorable to growing commercial and social enterprise, is a critical part of this ecosystem. In creating policies to build a sustainable social economy that is …
Podcast: Digital Health Today: Ending the HIV Epidemic with Digital Health
In the NewsOur Co-founder John Sargent, together with Kaakpema Yelpaala, founder of partners access.mobile, discusses digital health as a solution to ending the HIV epidemic. Listen here, or below: