The Power to Cure, Multiplied

Digital public infrastructure is helping African countries build more sustainable health systems by replacing fragmented, donor-funded projects with interoperable digital services. In Zambia, for example, the SmartCare Pro electronic health record system uses thumbprints to identify patients and track chronic diseases like TB and HIV, ensuring continuity of care, where it was historically missing.

New Mexico’s veterans are getting faster care as new programs expand to rural areas. Thanks to a host of initiatives, including telemedicine, contracts with community clinics, and travel benefits, the state’s VA health care system has recently seen improvements in appointment wait times for veterans.

Rural hospitals in New Mexico are isolated and scattered across the state, struggling to support low-income communities who have a difficult time getting access to their health care. In 2014, six hospitals banded together to create the New Mexico Rural Hospital Network, a cooperative effort to improve medical care across the small hospitals in the state. The Network has since scaled to ten hospitals and its system has benefited from the exchanges of ideas and an improvement in administrative efficiency.

Three African countries are successfully reducing the transmission of HIV through treatment and education, surpassing many developed countries in reducing cases. Although each is unique, the key lessons include using comprehensive, community-based approaches and strategies that involve collective action.

A hospital in Nigeria has implemented the use of an electronic medical record (EMR) system for patients to decrease mismanagement practices and increase transparency and accountability. The card that patients are given resembles an ATM card and acts as a means of health records and payment information.

In West Virginia, a community health worker program trains community members to act as local health supporters. The program, which targets high-risk residents "in rural areas throughout Appalachia," eliminates the need for doctor visits for issues such as diabetes that are better treated at home with lifestyle changes.

Rwanda is a poor, rural country with a troubled history. Yet the country has built an effective national health system by tackling the diseases of poverty, such as diarrhea and pneumonia, with smart use of international aid and local health workers.

In light of a study published in BMC Medicine, authors Nancy Fullman and Alexandra Wollum take a deeper dive into Nigeria’s gains against polio and what they could mean for the country’s routine vaccine systems.

Hospitals in New York improve healthcare quality and reduce medical costs by staying in frequent contact with patients requiring frequent or long-term care. Montefiore's Accountable Care Organization pulls in care providers from across the medical and social spectrum to improve patient health while curbing expenses.

Patients in U.S. hospitals suffer high rates of infection due to poor practices such as lack of proper hand-washing and lack of sanitization when inserting central line catheters. The Michigan Health and Hospital Association set out to reduce the rate of infection in their Intensive Care Units by developing a 5-step protocol for nurses and doctors to follow when inserting central lines. What they found was astonishing-- following these simple steps reduced the rate of infection to zero within three months of implementation.