HEALTHBOX
THE IDEA
The tools to make a dedicated health provider into a great one: provide a software tool with diagnosis and treatment algorithms, offered with low-cost diagnosis, treatment and prevention technologies.
Freya Spielberg
Freya is a family physician trained in clinical and public health. After 20 years of researching alternative HIV and STD counseling and testing strategies, she decided to take what worked in the US and apply it in the Third World. Now she is morphing from researcher to social entrepreneur, with the full support of her husband and her two high-energy daughters.
By using systematic and successful health care interventions, and optimizing the strengths of cheap technology, we can deliver quality health care to those who need it most.
There is a tremendous shortage of qualified health workers throughout the developing world, Africa alone needs another 1.5 million just to meet basic needs. At the same time, computers and other healthcare tools have become cheap and reliable enough to be part of the solution. Freya Spielberg, a US family physician, developed software that allows HIV/AIDS patients and others at risk to get self-paced, confidential counseling via interactive software. After success in the US, she adapted the software for low-literacy settings in India, and realized that it could be expanded to help less-qualified providers to give quality care through guided diagnosis and treatment algorithms. This IT solution, combined with the latest diagnostic tests and other tools, has the potential to turn minimally trained providers into high-quality clinicians and educators. In early trials in India, the counseling software worked as hoped, and now trials are in preparation for the whole “box.” If Freya’s solution works, it holds the promise of making high-quality care available to millions worldwide.
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