Right now is an exciting time to be a part of global health and East Africa is continuing to be one of the major hubs of global health innovation. In Nairobi, Kenya, and beyond exist a rich array of startup companies and organizations transforming healthcare in East Africa, some recognized by Bloomberg Business. Recognizing the immense potential for supporting global health innovation in the region, the Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator at Duke (SEAD) has partnered with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) East Africa regional mission to work together in developing a more cohesive and supportive ecosystem for innovation in East Africa.

February 5th marked the kick-off for the new, two-year collaboration. SEAD hosted a welcome dinner during the Sankalp Africa Summit in Nairobi.  Over 60 people attended the dinner, including SEAD Innovators, USAID officials, investors, corporations, academics, and regional nonprofit organizations.  The dinner was the first of several regional events SEAD plans to  host to engage this diverse range of stakeholders in the region in supporting global health innovation in East Africa, particularly in support of female entrepreneurs and supporting innovations that will improve the lives and health of women and girls.  SEAD also aims to enhance collaboration in East Africa with the other HESN Development Labs through this regional expansion.

During the dinner, SEAD was pleased to introduce Patricia Odero, East Africa Regional Director for SEAD, based in Nairobi, and Sylvia Sable, Project Associate for SEAD. Sylvia will be working with Patricia to open SEAD’s office in East Africa and begin building the relationships that will drive the mission of the collaboration forward.  In addition to developing partnerships with local funders, corporations, and universities to help build a stronger and more cohesive health innovation ecosystem, Patricia will also work with SEAD Innovators to advise and assist them in their efforts to scale and strengthen their work in the region.  Through this work, SEAD will be able to deliver insights that will build knowledge and understanding among the broader global health community.

For any questions about the East Africa collaboration, please contact Patricia Odero.

The SwitchPoint Youth Contest
When: April 23th - 24th
Where: SwitchPoint 2015; Saxapahaw, NC
More info: http://event.switchpointideas.com/contest  

The SwitchPoint Youth Contest is about finding new ways to spark innovations that will save lives around the world. We challenge individuals 30 and under to think across boundaries, to see everyday objects in new ways, and to channel their ingenuity to address some of the many global health and humanitarian challenges we face today.

This year, we’re looking for breakthrough solutions to help health workers better serve communities in need around the world. What’s your breakthrough solution?

How to Participate:
Submit a video no longer than 90 seconds (or a 350 word essay) describing or demonstrating your break through solution, or switchpoint, to help health workers better serve communities in need. Must be 30 years or younger. 

Deadline for submissions is April 6, 2015. For more info and to submit your idea, visit the SwitchPoint website.  

Healthcare entrepreneurs have a vested interest in demonstrating the beneficial outcomes of their activities and interventions. Not only do they want to improve the lives of people in the communities they serve, but additional funding to support and scale up their programs is often contingent upon evidence that their current efforts have proven effective. 

However, traditional best practices for evaluation, such as randomized controlled trials, are typically impractical for entrepreneurs due to the dynamic, business-focused environments in which they operate. Common challenges include the high cost of data collection, the extended time frame needed to observe change, and the difficulty of securing comparison groups or settings to help highlight the impact of the intervention. Therefore, healthcare innovators seek rigorous yet nimble approaches to evaluate the outcomes of their work.

DUKE INNOVATORS ARE HUNGRY FOR CREDIBLE BUT FEASIBLE EVALUATION TOOLSFunded by USAID, the Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator at Duke (SEAD) aims to engage faculty and students to increase the impact of health entrepreneurs and the broader development community. With a network of healthcare innovators in East Africa and India, SEAD is well-positioned to collaboratively develop and test “innovator-friendly” evaluation methods geared toward providing credible evidence for future business engagement and financing. 

To this end, SEAD recently signed an agreement with the Duke Global Health Institute’s Evidence Lab to create, pilot and finalize an evaluation toolkit for health entrepreneurs.

EVIDENCE LAB: BUILDING CAPACITY FOR ON-THE-GROUND EVALUATION RESEARCHEstablished in 2014, the Evidence Lab conducts high-quality, objective evaluation using rigorous and innovative research designs and methods, with a focus on evaluation in real-world settings. Working with Duke faculty and entities as well as external partners, they also focus on building capacity in individuals and other organizations to conduct this type of research effectively.
“We’re thrilled to be collaborating with the evaluation experts at DGHI to help our innovators better understand and communicate the impact of their work and, in doing so, enhance their efforts to improve the health of the populations they serve,” said Sarah Gelfand, deputy director of SEAD.

INNOVATOR-FRIENDLY TOOLS WILL ASSESS IMPACT ON SEVERAL LEVELSThe Evidence Lab will develop and test three new innovator-friendly evaluation tools to support SEAD innovators and to inform future USAID investments in healthcare entrepreneur programs.

Entrepreneurs often want to describe the economic impact of their programs but are not sure what economic aspects of their program to highlight. The first tool, designed to evaluate economic impact, will help innovators understand and use different strategies for evaluating the economic strengths of their innovations, including overviews of costing, cost-benefit analysis and cost-effectiveness analysis.

Many entrepreneurs also want to be able to describe how their program has expanded access to health care or improved the quality of care for their patient populations. The second tool will be a patient intake form that will include questions about prior health care experiences so program staff can better track the impact of their services for individual patients (e.g. initial and continued engagement in primary care services). 

And lastly, the Evidence Lab will create a tool to help entrepreneurs—who are often scaling up and expanding their services—to think through the evaluation opportunities that arise when they expand to a new geographic area. This tool will suggest health indicator data to collect before and after starting services in a geographic area, giving specific examples of commonly available health indicator data and how these data may be used to shed light on a program’s impact.  

PILOT FEEDBACK WILL GUIDE FINAL TOOL DEVELOPMENTOnce these tools are developed, the Evidence Lab will pilot them with three or four SEAD innovators, providing training and technical assistance as needed. Feedback from pilot participants on the usability of the tools will inform the final versions of the tools, which will ultimately be available for broader use.
 
“We’re delighted to partner with SEAD innovators to create practical, readily usable evaluation tools,” said Evidence Lab director Rae Jean Proeschold-Bell. “Leaders want data documenting their program’s impact, but insufficient time, money, or evaluation expertise can get in the way. We hope to address these challenges by coming up with strategic approaches to evaluation and creating pragmatic how-to guides.”    
Learn more about the Evidence Lab’s approach, services and leadership.

Read the DGHI article about the launch of the Evidence Lab in 2014.

To inquire about collaborating on a project, please contact Joy Noel Baumgartner, associate director of the Evidence Lab.

2015 has arrived and the Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator at Duke (SEAD) is proud to announce our 2015 cohort of innovators.  These eight innovators now bring the SEAD network to 25 innovators in East Africa, India, and Latin America.  From innovative approaches to healthcare access to technology development, our newest innovators all have the potential to influence healthcare models globally in addition to their daily work of improving the lives of the communities they operate in.

These innovators were chosen from a pool of more than 120 candidates as part of a highly competitive selection process.  Like our other two cohorts, these innovators bring a diverse set of experiences and expertise to the SEAD network.  While each organization is working on unique challenges, they are linked by their common commitment to scaling better healthcare opportunities around the world.

SEAD brings together interdisciplinary partners through a coordinated effort across Duke University and leverages institutional relationships and networks to create an integrated global health social entrepreneurship hub for diverse stakeholders across the globe. SEAD, in partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the USAID Higher Education Solutions Network (HESN), mobilizes a community of practitioners, investors, policymakers, faculty, staff, and students to identify, assess, help develop, build capacity of, and scale solutions, technologies, and business models for healthcare delivery and preventive services in developing countries around the world. SEAD is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under cooperative agreement number AID-OAA-A-13-00004.

Meet the 2015 SEAD cohort:

Afya Research, East Africa, nonprofit

Afya Research operates kiosks located in rural villages, making it easier for community members to access services such as well-baby and ante-natal visits.

Ayzh, India and East Africa, for-profit

Ayzh develops low-cost, appropriate technology such as safe birthing kits designed to meet the needs of women in resource-poor settings.

Bodhi Health Education, India, for-profit

Bodhi Health provides medical education training materials that explain complex medical topics to less literate health workers with highly pictorial e-Learning content available in regional languages.

MicroClinic Technologies, East Africa, for-profit

MicroClinic Technologies, is commercializing ZiDi, Africa’s first enterprise health management solution which enables clinics and hospitals across Africa to improve management of patient care, medicines, and personnel.