Facebook and Merck support I Care 4 Africa
California based Hack for Big Choices and Ghana based, Impact Hub Accra ,
recently teamed up to host the largest hackathon in Africa last
February. They are now announcing that in March 2016 they will launch I
Care 4 Africa. For the first time ever, private companies, entrepreneurs, and governments will be working together to lay down the foundation for a continent-wide healthcare system.
“Until
now African healthcare has depended heavily on international aid
organizations that are not unified in their approach to creating
sustainable innovation that can solve healthcare problems. I believe
that local entrepreneurs, who until now have been left out of the
equation, are the trigger that can leapfrog the system. We intend to
prove that through collaboration with the world’s leaders and local
stakeholders, it’s possible to structure a innovative, sustainable
healthcare system. ” -Aurora Chiste,CEO Hack For Big Choices
The program is designed to empower entrepreneurs and
medical professionals to use their first hand experience and talents to
match business opportunities in the healthcare space. There will be a
major healthcare hackathon in June 24-26th 2016 to launch new
businesses, followed by an accelerator program.
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61.7% of deaths in Africa are mostly preventable (infectious disease, maternal, neonatal, and nutrition conditions) By contrast, these conditions account for only 23% of deaths worldwide
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70% of all people living with HIV are in Sub-Saharan Africa.
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Only 50% of people have access to modern health facilities.
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Africa carries the burden of 25% of global disease yet makes up only 2% of the global physician workforce.
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Westernized lifestyle and increased life expectancy in Africa is causing an increase of chronic diseases (cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and diabetes) that by 2030 will account for 42% of all deaths in the region.
Health challenges in Africa may continue to worsen due to
inadequate systems for prevention and care. As the population of Africa
continues to boom, solving the healthcare crisis is imperative.
“When we challenge the
most motivated and fearless people to tackle these problems with few
resources, we have real innovation that can be adopted not only in
Africa but also by developed countries, because the solutions are more
scalable and affordable ” – Aurora Chiste, CEO Hack For Big Choices
Why will this be successful?
1. African entrepreneurs
are the ones who experience the world’s toughest issues first hand,
don’t fear failure, have a deep understanding of their culture, and
their perspectives are fresh.
2. Because there’s no established and dated infrastructure as in the EU and the US, new technologies can be directly adopted, reducing costs and time.
3. There is an economic opportunity in investing in
successful cases of African innovation that can be adopted by other
developing countries and the developed world .
“We decided to organize this program because many of us
forget that people are suffering everyday…People are dying from
malnutrition, dying from drinking unclean water, dying of curable
diseases, and dying because there are no doctors or hospital near to
them. We staunchly reject the notion that there is nothing that can be
done to solve these problems, and that people around the world don’t
care to make a difference. “ -John Paul Parmigiani, CEO Impact Hub Accra
“Participating in the Healthcare Hackathon in Ghana will
enable us to use our expertise in supporting entrepreneurs to turn their
ideas into reality. The project offers us the opportunity to help
develop solutions to problems that are faced not only by people in the
region, but in countries all over the world.” Michael Gamber, Merck
Innovation Center
Multi-stakeholders
collaborations are necessary to address complex challenges. Over the
coming months we will be scouting organizations, institutions,
Universities, NGOs and private companies that can bring funding,
knowledge, expertise and technologies that can add value to and catalyze
the healthcare system in Africa.
