Ignite the Promise

Global Health

An interesting thing happened on my way to breakfast -- I was introduced to global health.  In February, I was invited to the African Prayer Breakfast, a subset of the National Prayer Breakfast held each year for the past 68 years.  I sat next to a pediatrician from Nigeria, who is a director of Global Health for the Washington, DC based Academy for Educational Development (AED).  Between bites of scrambled eggs, we chatted about my former life as a medical researcher and interest in knowing more about global health.  We set up time to meet later.

AED works with the UN, WHO, USAID, NGOs and other teams to bring needed health and medical care to sorely needed areas.  In Sub-Saharan Africa, the use of technology is the driver moving basic health care into villages. The technology is not complex.  A cell phone may be the link between a pregnant woman and the clinic a day's journey away, e.g., 100,000 cell phones distributed to women are saving lives in Rwandan villages.  The women are taught how to use the phones and can text doctors and clinicians with questions about their pregnancies.  They get answers back that in the past were mostly never asked since travel to the clinics were very difficult.  In Ghana, mobile applications are being used for annual medical check-ups.  SmartPhones in South Africa, connecting doctors with access to a clinical library and treatment guidelines, have improved clinical outcomes. 

Bottomline.  Technology is fast improving the access to health care and the treatment of clinical conditions in developing countries.  The technology is reducing the need for extensive traditional infrastructures to serve as focal points to provide health care.  Probably more so than in developed countries, the pace to develop and apply technology is accelerating rapidly in developing countries. The main deterrent for success will not be the technology nor the eduation, it will be the ongoing support of the technology -- the 'supply chain' (upkeep of equipment, electrical power, wireless signals) that keeps this all operating efficiently.  But then with challenges, there are opportunities!

There is energy, excitement, and momentum to provide even more technology and applications in global health.  Recently, I teamed with an Information Technology (IT) company to determine how to apply their products and services in the health IT arena for potential application in developing countries.  Ahh!  The challenge to become pioneers!

© Baldwin H. Tom CMC
www.tbgroupconsultants.com

Geospatial Design, Human Geography and Osama bin Laden

I recently began research on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to learn their use in medicine and healthcare.  In so doing, I have discovered fascinating ways others have been integrating large amounts of data into single interactive graphics, the GIS map.  GIS is not new, it was called other things before the advent of its application with IT tools.  In its early days, GIS was done with paper and pencil with layers of data displayed on transparent sheets that can be projected to see the overlay and interactions of different parameters on the topic under study.  Today, with the expanse of technology tools, the same layers of datasets are digitized and provide an impressive multidimensional display or interactions that support decision making.

One such data set is presented on the following link ( http://www.gapminder.org/world/ ). It shows income of people in different countries against their life expectancy.  It is the type of comparisons you can expect with today's GIS tools and a fascinating use of GIS mapping.  You can select a country and follow individual income growth from 1900 to 2009. 

More recently, the information needed to locate Osama bin Laden also involved the use of GIS mapping.  An article recounting this is found at this link  (http://www.nationaljournal.com/whitehouse/in-raid-on-bin-laden-little-known-geospatial-agency-played-vital-role-20110505?page=1).  You should note the many data sets that were gathered to create the 'guide book' to locate bin Laden.

The key to success in GIS mapping is not in the technology, it is in the data selection, collection, sorting, and analysis.  The data sets are also predetermined by the end use of the mapped information.  The old maxim about data collection of garbage in and garbage out holds true.

The use of GIS mapping for human activities will only grow.  It is such a powerful (and compelling) visual display of enumerable data points to show changes and trends.  It provides the option to study the combinations of interactions and impact of different parameters around a specific subject.  Nice!

© Baldwin H. Tom CMC
www.tbgroupconsultants.com

Do I need to worry about this?

This question suggests the obvious that not all concerns need a solution.  The follow-on question is, "What are the problems needing solutions?"  This topic is not a new one for me, but it came up again when I was listening to a radio broadcast about 'worry.'  The point of the broadcast was that the things we worry about are mostly not important, will go away, or are out of our realm of our control (which means we can do nothing about it -- like the weather).  The number that surprised me (and gave me comfort as well) was that only 8% of our worries need to be dealt with.  That means a whopping 92% of worry time is wasted energy that could be diverted to some more constructive use!  In this blog, a worry is like a problem.  Do I need to deal with it?

Here is a suggestion.  Whenever there is a problem or concern or worry, ask, "Do I need to deal with this?"   The answer will be Yes, No, or Perhaps (but later).  One of my supervisors once asked me if the problem I was bringing to him was urgent and needed a solution 'right now.'  I said, "No."  Then he said that until the problem becomes one that affects work or performance, just ignore it.  He effectively said that unless the problem was immediate, it doesn't exist.  It was actually a relief when I absorbed what he was saying, i.e., don't address problems until they become one.  While I do not adhere to this fully, there is truth to this approach.  A cautious person may act to anticipate and want to address a potential problem more quickly than a less cautious person.  The point is that we will have enough immediate problems and worries that are real to not need to gather potential problems and worries to ourselves before their time!

If you are helping another person or business, it is cost effective and efficient if you question whether the problem at hand is the real one to tackle.  In this light, I now ask, "Is this the problem you need to solve?"  This questioning will help you eliminate peripheral issues and arrive at the 'real' problem needing a solution.

© Baldwin H. Tom CMC
www.tbgroupconsultants.com

Out-of-the-Box Thinking

Awhile back I blogged about 'linking health to geography' based on an article I read.  What I did not do was to check the meeting that released the report.  It was from the 2010 Technology, Entertainment, and Design in Medicine (TEDMED) conference.  I just went to their website (www.tedmed.com) and was impressed with the purpose of the organization.  It networks people to think outside of the box.  Just the title of the group implies that they do not foster linear thinking, nor support business as usual conversations.  Having worked on developing training courses on Creative Thinking (with a right-brain focus) and Strategic Exploration (with a left-brain focus), this is encouraging to me that there are such groups engaged to help us think better for the future.

When I was engaged in setting up conferences for emerging biomedical sciences, I liked to schedule a speaker that was outside the field under discussion.  For example, when we had a conference about a new set of discoveries called liposomes (lipid vesicles used to deliver drugs and such to living cells, now commonly used in cosmetics), I invited a surface physicist to be a speaker.  This person was clearly not involved with living cells and was not part of the discussion around liposomes and their interactions with living cells.  Yet, his presentation was well received as it brought new ideas and new possible approaches to the development of future liposomes interacting with cells. 

This simple means of mixing ideas is one way to help a discipline think beyond their usual constraints, hence, out-of-the-box thinking.  So if you want to consider a new idea, maybe go to some activity or presentation that is totally outside of your normal range of interest.  It can be fun and may help you find that important ah-ha moment!

© Baldwin H. Tom CMC
www.tbgroupconsultants.com