I can't wait to go to Cap in a month, but in the meantime I'm trying to get a final fill of learning from afar about the issues down there. This weekend was a fun-filled one at the Yale Global Health and Innovation Conference, put on by Unite for Sight, an amazing NGO dedicated to supporting eye clinics worldwide by investing in human and financial resources in their social ventures to eliminate patient barriers to eye care. It was filled with lots of inspiration nuggets and interesting people--a real celebration of that huge multitude of activities which we label "global health". Sometimes the sheer creativity involved in an organization's work would be the most memorable thing, like when Sasha Kramer of SOIL talked about her organization's work installing toilets in Haiti and collecting the compost as a way to improve sanitation and renew the soil from the effects of deforestation. Or in a talk by Living Goods about its micro-finance operations in Uganda with door-to-door health promoters who make a modest income selling essential health products (soap, etc.) at prices affordable to the poor. They have impressive supply chain and distribution system which combine real buying power of basic products in bulk (to allow for low prices) with a network of distribution centers to keep the health promoters supplied with goods for their mini-businesses. Throughout the talks are reminders which are usually both cliche and true, and which I have heard many times but always need reminding of, like:
--Do not just provide medical care, but empower communities to provide it for themselves
--Determine the impact you really care about, find a metric to measure it, and follow through with measuring it
--Do not expect everything to go as planned, and be prepared for detours
--You may have a great product or service, but make sure people have access to it
The list could go on. Needless to say I had a great time, but at the same it made me feel a really urgent need to really get out there and get things done!
Julian
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