In a new blog for BioMed Central, Network member Anita M. McGahan, Roy Ahn and Thomas F. Burke – the editors of a new book on the topic – discuss “the importance of innovations as a strategy toward possible solutions for urbanization and global health.”
“In our new book, Innovating for Healthy Urbanization, we argue that using the ‘innovations’ lens can provide a unique platform through which solutions for urbanization and health can emerge.
Sometimes ‘innovations’ can be decidedly high tech, such as holograms on medication packaging that protect against drug counterfeiters, or tiny filter paper tests costing pennies that exponentially increase access to medical diagnostic testing for poor people living in cities.
Other innovations are less tech-focused, but equally impactful, such as advocating for motorcycle helmet laws in cities or a low-cost, condom catheter-balloon kit that can save mothers from dying from postpartum hemorrhage.”
