We live in a world where exciting new apps and technologies are unveiled every day. And some of these innovations will be the game changers that accelerate progress toward the ambitious new 2030 global goals.
But in our excitement about innovation, we risk falling into a big trap, and that’s believing that new technologies intended to improve the quality of health care will have impact all by themselves. New technologies empower—they enable—they have potential—but ultimately, their value depends on the people and systems that use them.
I just read a great article that seems especially relevant during the current innovation craze. Eric Bellman makes the point in “Epic Fail: Tech Tricks Are No Fix for Developing-World Problems” that there are no shortcuts to developing solutions that “stick.” To be effective, appropriate technology must be designed and introduced in the broader context of the health user, health system, and community.
In other words, simply creating a clever tool doesn’t mean it will have impact. To have real and lasting impact, an innovation must be about the person using it in the context of where they live and work.
It takes more than a great idea to save lives
The Projecting Health project empowers communities to use inexpensive video gear to create and screen locally made health education videos. Video: PATH.
Technologies like vaccine vial monitors (VVMs) had little global health impact at first. A VVM is a dime-sized sticker on a vaccine vial that changes color as it’s exposed to heat. Originally developed to monitor perishables in the food industry, these stickers let health workers know at a glance whether a vaccine can still be used for immunization or if it has been damaged by too much exposure to heat. Cool technology, but it was only when people trusted and were willing to act on the VVM information, that its potential to transform the transport, storage, and use of vaccines was realized.
Like VVMs, diagnostics that identify whether a person has a disease or condition, especially when at the point-of-care, are amazing. Improving the accuracy and timeliness of a diagnosis is critical to improve the quality of health care. But a positive or negative diagnosis is just data. The value of any diagnostic will depend on whether there are trained, motivated, empowered health workers who understand and trust the information and have the tools to appropriately act on it.
Sometimes the link is more obvious as with new interventions like Projecting Health—a project that empowers communities to create compelling health education videos customized for local contexts. Obviously, just giving out video cameras and smart phones won’t automatically translate into health messages. The potential of this technology depends on the people in local health systems and communities being supported to develop the right messages to promote healthy behaviors.
The magic isn’t the technology—the magic is how technology and people connect
The road to end preventable child deaths, eradicate polio, end hunger, or any other great global goal is paved with data and lessons of what has or has not worked and why. Over PATH’s four decades of work on health innovations we’ve learned a lot—sometimes the hard way. But the most important lesson is to always keep people and communities at the center of innovation. It’s hard work, but it’s the only way we can truly make a difference in their lives.