24 September 2008
GE Healthcare Announces Partnership with Grameen Health to Explore Sustainable Healthcare Delivery Models for the Developing World
Partnership Supports Business Models To Help Address Health Needs Of 4 Billion People Around the World Who Live on Annual Incomes of Less Than $3,000
WAUWATOSA, Wis.--24 September 2008-- GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE), and Grameen Health, an affiliate of Grameen Bank, the pioneering micro-financing organization in Bangladesh that shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for its work to alleviate poverty, today announced that they will work together to identify sustainable models for healthcare delivery in the developing world.
The partners will jointly evaluate ways to improve Grameen Health’s existing healthcare delivery systems and primary care clinics in rural Bangladesh. In the next year, they will identify appropriate business models that ultimately can be replicated in other countries, addressing the needs of the 4 billion people around the world whose annual income is less than $3,000. As part of its commitment to the collaboration, GE Healthcare will test delivery of ultrasound capability in rural clinics for early detection of abnormalities, especially in the context of maternal care.
“GE Healthcare is committed to early health initiatives,” said Omar Ishrak, President & Chief Executive Officer, Clinical Systems, GE Healthcare. “We have affordable technology with advanced imaging and care capabilities that can make a difference to save lives. With the ubiquitous usage of ultrasound, GE believes it’s provided a crucial tool in the early care of expectant mothers. We intend to work with Grameen Health to further understand and expand ultrasound usage in rural areas. Through this pilot program we plan to train providers in the usage of ultrasound, evaluate the product, the training and the workflow that would be needed to enable the full deployment of this technology. This is one positive step towards accessible and sustainable healthcare for the developing world.”
GE has taken steps to enhance accessibility of ultrasound through training and education, starting with a pilot program with U.S.-based medical school students. Medical students participating in the pilot study also helped GE Healthcare to determine how medical students learn, to gather data from the ‘new ultrasound user’ in order to improve the design of the ultrasound equipment, and to determine whether the use of the ultrasound device during medical training will have beneficial effects on medical training itself. The ultrasound curriculum adds a hands-on component with immediate results that show students the practical applications of technology in medicine.
“Technologies such as ultrasound can be used to help detect diseases earlier, when they can be more effectively treated,” said Dr. Bob Honigberg, Chief Medical Officer of GE Healthcare. “These pilot studies may provide support for more primary care physicians to utilize miniaturized ultrasound technology to supplement tools that are used today."
“As we address the challenges of global health access, we are pleased to partner with GE Healthcare who shares our belief that solutions to improving access to healthcare technologies can be socially responsible and sustainable, yet commercially viable,” said Professor Muhammad Yunus, who shared the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize with Grameen Bank, which he founded and now directs.
During the next year, the partnership will focus on the following areas:
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), among the biggest obstacles to improved health outcomes are inadequate health delivery and financing mechanisms that place the heaviest burden on the poor and sick, who are the least able to pay.
In addition to its partnership with GE Healthcare, Grameen is partnering with Pfizer Inc., which will dedicate key employees to provide technical and advisory support to evaluate Grameen’s existing healthcare delivery systems in Bangladesh. Grameen is also partnering with the Mayo Clinic, to improve the training, efficiency, and retention of staff at existing Grameen Health Kalyan clinics.
About Grameen Health
Grameen Health (GH) aims to extend the success of the microfinance model to health care by designing and developing a bottom-up health care infrastructure built from sustainable best practices in a broad range of health care services around the world, and improving upon them to deliver the highest quality health care in an efficient and sustainable manner for a broad market, including the poorest of the poor. GH will enable the poor to be self sufficient in addressing their health care needs such that they can accept, but not require, outside assistance.
About GE Healthcare
GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, performance improvement, drug discovery, and biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies is helping clinicians around the world re-imagine new ways to predict, diagnose, inform, treat, and monitor disease, so patients can live their lives to the fullest.
GE Healthcare's broad range of products and services enable healthcare providers to better diagnose and treat cancer, heart disease, neurological diseases, and other conditions earlier. Our vision for the future is to enable a new "early health" model of care focused on earlier diagnosis, pre-symptomatic disease detection, and disease prevention. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a $17- billion unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employs more than 46,000 people committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries. For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our Web site at www.gehealthcare.com.
