From the most poverty-stricken to the most prosperous nations, people around the world face the same kinds of healthcare challenges in one form or another. For some, it's an educational and cultural barrier - they fear and try to ignore their symptoms, which, in reality, are easily treatable. For others, the rarity of their diseases makes them feel isolated and alone. And for still others, treatments could be readily available if a better distribution system were available.
These are just a few of the countless challenges in the global world of healthcare - challenges that many great minds are focused on solving.
To bring these solutions to light, last year the Foundation joined with Ashoka's Changemakers to host Patients | Choices | Empowerment, an online competition calling for initiatives that elevate patients' voices to improve health outcomes globally.
Entrants were encouraged to tap the medical experience, knowledge and wisdom of current and past patients, healthcare practitioners, advocates and other key stakeholders to come up with new patient empowerment ideas that the Foundation hopes will grow and be replicated around the world.
The Foundation chose to work with Ashoka's Changemakers because of the group's success in connecting social entrepreneurs around the globe who share ideas, inspire and mentor each other. Through its online collaborative competitions and open-source process, Changemakers.com is one of the world's most robust spaces for launching, discussing and funding ideas to solve the world's most pressing social problems.
The Patients | Choices | Empowerment competition, launched last summer, was open to anyone or any organization across the globe.
As part of the competition, Ashoka developed a Patient Empowerment Discovery Framework in partnership with the Amgen Foundation. The Discovery Framework uncovers patterns of what works in the field and what solutions are missing, and illuminates ideas on how change is happening. The document is built on an analysis of social solutions through the entrepreneurial lens of Ashoka Fellows, experts and thought-leaders to distill what Ashoka refers to as "barriers" and "design principles" for change.
By last fall, 277 entries were submitted, ranging from patient-to-patient counseling, incentives for insurance companies to support a wider range of newer treatments and online discussion groups for patients to discuss their options with the healthcare community and fellow patients.
A panel of expert judges, including Patricia Rutherford of Institute for Healthcare Improvement and Dr. Albert Jovell of Fundació Josep Laporte, selected the competition finalists based on innovation, social impact and sustainability.
From there, expert commentators and the public voted to select the top three award winners from the list of finalists.
"We're thrilled with all the inspiring and innovative ideas that we've gathered from around the world," says Amgen Foundation President Jean Lim Terra. "It's ideas like these that will help patients make decisions with confidence and clarity, in concert with people who care and can help. This is exactly the kind of initiative that will lead to empowered patients and collaborative solutions at every stage of healthcare and treatment."
The Amgen Foundation is also considering awarding up to $1 million in grants to support promising innovations in patient empowerment submitted by qualifying nonprofit organizations. The Foundation is now in the process of reviewing the entries to determine how it can help expand these ideas to help new patient populations regardless of their diseases - and how they can be expanded into new geographies.
Here's a look at the three winning entries:
Overcoming Tuberculosis Myths in India
In India, Dr. Shelly Batra has learned that among the poor, one of the biggest barriers to effective healthcare is fear - fear of doctors, hospitals and diseases. Tuberculosis (TB) is a prime example. Much of the population mistakenly believes TB is always fatal, and patients are often ostracized or even abandoned.
Dr. Batra is the President and Co-Founder of Operation Asha, an organization that strives to eradicate tuberculosis worldwide. She and her colleagues dedicate their lives to educating patients and their families and communities, helping patients adhere to their treatment plans and minimizing the further spread of the disease. Operation ASHA has established a dense network of accessible TB treatment centers deep in the urban slums, and utilize community health workers from the slums to carry out intensive counseling of patients, families and communities to ensure complete treatment and prevent the dreaded and often fatal Multi-Drug resistant TB.
"I have found that just talking to patients and their families works wonders," says Dr. Batra. "Without acceptance and willingness on the part of the patient, and emotional and practical support, treatment cannot take place."
Texting for Blood Donors
Chronic blood shortage is another healthcare issue addressed creatively in India. Khushroo Poacha of Indian Blood Donors developed an online blood donor helpline that puts donors and needy patients in touch through text messaging. "We can save a life for the cost of an SMS (text message)," Poacha notes.
Poacha is now working on a global donor helpline to include Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, the Philippines and other countries that have expressed interest.
"Nobody should die for want of blood - there should be no blood shortage," Poacha says. "We've proven that our SMS program works in India. Now we want to make it work around the world."
Assembling Patient Knowledge Online
CureTogether is an online community, developed by Alexandra Carmichael and Daniel Reda, which collects quantitative data from patients on nearly 600 medical conditions. Based in Mountain View, Calif., the group's goal is to help patients learn what treatments are available and how effective they have been for one another.
Through the sharing of experiences, CureTogether has already made a number of important medical discoveries - including an association between infertility and asthma, and a migraine biomarker that predicts a negative reaction to a popular migraine drug.
"I'm proud that we've been able to help so many people connect with others with whom they share multiple health conditions," Carmichael says. "Imagine finding someone who shares seven conditions with you and being able to ask one another private questions. CureTogether provides a place to connect and to avoid needless suffering."
