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Partners in reimagining  global healthcare

Medtronic LABS and its partners are confronting the world’s toughest healthcare challenges, together.

Partnerships are at the very core of Medtronic LABS. By working with others dedicated to expanding healthcare access to underserved communities around the world, LABS is creating sustainable solutions that work for everyone, no matter where they live.

Photo of diabetes patient Benjamin Musau

Benjamin Musau had to seek medical care more than three hours away before the partnership between Medtronic LABS and the Kenyan government brought community health workers to his village in Kenya.

Benjamin Musau doesn’t want people living with diabetes in his village in Kenya to suffer like he did after being diagnosed with the disease more than 30 years ago. At times, he had to seek medical care more than three hours away due to capacity limitations at his local clinic. Medication was rarely affordable. Three years ago, his foot was amputated because of diabetes complications. Today, however, he is hopeful.

Quality healthcare is being delivered to patients in his village because of a landmark public-private partnership between Medtronic LABS and the Kenyan government. “The Medtronic LABS’ community health workers and peer educators now help monitor our conditions in our village and even in our homes,” Benjamin said. “This is very encouraging as it allows us to live confidently knowing we have community doctors who are supporting us in the care management.”

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Medtronic LABS’ partners share a commitment to putting patients first and to achieving measurable health outcomes that matter to the communities we serve.”

 

–Anne Stake, Chief Strategy and Product Officer, Medtronic LABS

Photo of a meeting of a local LABS partner organization

Medtronic LABS on a site visit at Kyambeke Health Centre in Makueni County where their digital technology and field teams are working to expand access to care.

The power of collaboration

To combat the non-communicable disease crisis, Medtronic LABS collaborates with partners across the globe to create technology-powered healthcare solutions to expand patient access for disadvantaged communities. Patients are at the very center of these solutions. LABS often works alongside local governments, faith-based organizations, and health systems to deliver a full spectrum of healthcare services to those who need it most. And by joining forces with organizations that can fund this lifesaving work, LABS is transforming healthcare on a global scale. By working together, we can build strong health systems that work for everyone, no matter where they live.

Partnering with the public sector to fight chronic disease

Our work in the public sector started in 2019 with a landmark public-private partnership between Medtronic LABS, the Kenyan Ministry of Health and three county governments. The partnership leverages Medtronic LABS’ digital technology and field operations with government infrastructure and health workers. The program, Afya Dumu, is transforming chronic disease care and continues to expand with additional funding partners, like Path. Today, the model is at an inflection point. With a major grant from World Diabetes Foundation, Medtronic LABS and the Ministry of Health will expand the model to reach national scale in Kenya. The investment creates a pathway for the sustainable delivery of care to thousands of patients in Kenya.

Expanding healthcare on a national scale, together

Public health is one of the greatest investments a government can make. But many governments lack the expertise in healthcare technology to improve patient outcomes on a national scale. By working with Medtronic LABS, local governments are helping the people they serve receive quality care, from diagnosis to treatment. For example, LABS is currently working with the government of Bhutan, the UN Technology Bank, and other partners to screen children for hearing loss and provide continued care for those who need it. These screenings will take place at hospitals, schools, and communities across the country and utilize LABS’ portable screening and digital patient management technologies. LABS will also train the Bhutanese health work force on how to use the screening technologies to ensure a continuum of care services. The goal is to screen 190,000 patients.

Bhutan partnership goal: screen 190,000 children for hearing loss
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The UN Technology Bank is mandated to enhance science, technology and innovation in the least developed countries including supporting them to identify and adopt technology solutions to meet their needs. It is our pleasure to work with our global partners to fill the urgent needs of hearing loss care in Bhutan. We want to serve the least developed countries as the gateway to science, technology and innovation to achieve the sustainable development goals.”

 

–Joshua Setipa, Managing Director of the UN Technology Bank

Investing in healthcare

Non-communicable diseases exacerbate the vicious cycle of poverty engulfing disadvantaged communities around the world. Health systems struggle to pay for lifesaving medical technology, and costly medications are beyond the reach of many patients. Medtronic LABS seeks to break this cycle by working with partners who can help fund its critical program work. With the financial support of the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ), Medtronic LABS is partnering with the Christian Hospital Association of Ghana to serve more than 70,000 patients in Ghana the first year alone. And with the support of the Sanofi Aventis Groupe, LABS is expanding this model to Sierra Leone and Tanzania through a new partnership with local health systems. Together, Sanofi and LABS are seeking to expand access to diabetes and hypertension care for over 20,000 patients.

20,000. The number of patients Sanofi and LABS are seeking to bring diabetes and hypertension care to in Sierra Leone and Tanzania.

Putting the ‘global’ in global health

Until recently, Medtronic LABS and its partners were focused on delivering quality healthcare to patients in underserved communities in Africa and Asia. But the tremendous need for sustainable and scalable healthcare solutions is prompting LABS to expand its reach. Now, LABS is helping underserved patients with chronic diseases in the United States through a new agreement with Medtronic, Virtua Health, and the Cherry Hill Free Clinic. This new collaboration aims to reduce health disparities in a meaningful, sustainable, and scalable way in southern New Jersey. Community health workers play an integral role in this new initiative as they do in many of the healthcare models created by LABS. By relying on community health workers, LABS and its partners are extending the reach of clinicians in areas where there are often shortages of medical professionals.

Photo of doctor using device to measure blood oxygen level

Virtua Health Cardiologist Hafeza Shaikh, DO, provides medical screenings and support services to patients in southern New Jersey.

Putting patients first

The world’s toughest healthcare challenges demand a commitment to finding sustainable solutions that work for everyone, no matter where they live. Collaboration is essential.

Partnerships are at the very core of LABS. And at the core of those partnerships? Patients.

The needs of the patients served by Medtronic LABS and its partners are great. But by working together, we are creating even greater opportunities to build a healthier, more equitable world.

To learn more, visit mdtlabs.org.

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