Modern clinic in Kenya's last frontier

In Chicago, the disparity in mortality rates between white and black women who contracted breast cancer was once disturbingly high, one of the worst in the nation . But ten years of fostering partnerships between the city and groups like the Metropolitan Chicago Breast Cancer Task Force has helped make Chicago a leader in creating more equal access to services like mammograms, support groups, and assistance with open enrollment for health care.

An average of 28,000 children born in the U.S. each year die before their first birthday – and many more face disabilities and serious life-long health problems, often because they are born prematurely or at low birth weights. A free service, text4baby, delivers crucial health advice via text message to pregnant women and new mothers.

Close collaboration between stakeholders in a community allows rural health centers to remain in operation. With the failure of many rural hospitals across the United States, medical providers, nonprofit organizations, and even city governments are coming together to invest and save institutions crucial to their communities. From placing faltering hospitals under municipal control, to expanding services through nonprofit donations, many rural communities are finding solutions that fit.

To combat racial disparities in maternal health care, New York is funding a partnership program between the city and communities to improve maternal healthcare for women of color. Both public and private hospitals will implement implicit bias training and the city will work to improve its data collection. Hospitals will also receive funds for health coordinators to make sure women are accessing care.

In many rural communities in India, access to clean drinking water is still scarce. The cost of bottled water is prohibitive, city pipes are in poor condition, and the municipal tanker trucks that supply some water are haphazard. But a social business called Sarvajal is busy scaling up a solution: a water ATM. These machines allow people to scan a pre-paid card and withdraw purified water from a stable, convenient source within their community when needed.

The commercially-based Wind for Prosperity initiative may have devised a solution to meet growing demands for electricity in developing economies, where fossil fuels are expensive, difficult to access, and take a toll on environmental and human health. The venture works to refurbish wind turbines from Europe and re-deploy them in the developing world, providing clean and affordable power where it’s needed most.

Hacey Health Initiative and Alabiyamo Maternal and Child Healthcare Foundation are improving maternal and newborn health in rural communities. The groups have provided more than 50,000 birthing kits containing sterilized tools and other essentials and handed out over 100,000 long-lasting treated nets to prevent malaria. Women and infants can get medications and important vaccinations, along with clothes and baby food. The care is free and the groups work with community gatekeepers, like leaders in local markets, midwives, and other traditional birthing assistants, whose buy in is important to build trust.

A program in Sokoto State uses 300 ambulances to improve access to emergency care in rural areas, which has significantly improved maternal health outcomes. High costs, limited availability of transportation, and traditional gender norms limited women’s access to care, but the program has made it easier to reach care, and more interactions with health facilities helped shift norms about maternal care. Routine immunizations, prenatal care, and nutrition services have also increased. Committees, made up of local leaders and healthcare officials, maintain the vehicles and provide drivers in each ward.

The local primary health center in Tayi, a new community in Chanchaga Local Government Area of Niger state, has helped normalize the discussion of family planning which includes topics such as primary health care delivery and contraception. The center provides on-site educational opportunities but has also partnered with religious leaders to especially help the conversation reach men.

A doula program in San Francisco is helping to create jobs and build equity in maternal health, especially for Black mothers. Training is free for the client as well as for the doulas, with trainees also receiving mentorship and full benefits. To date, the organization has raised nearly $1 million for operational expenses from a variety of channels including "foundations, a city-managed health plan, and revenue from a local sugary drinks tax."