Report: New health care distribution model could save lives in developing countries

David Ruth
Rice University
713-348-6327
druth@rice.edu

Hannah Abney
George W. Bush Institute
469-374-5472
habney@bushcenter.com

Report: New health care distribution model could save lives in developing countries

Each year millions of children and adults in the world’s poorest countries die from lack of access to medicine and health care. A new report from Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business and the George W. Bush Institute offers a solution for improving distribution methods for health care information, products and services.

The report, “Delivering Health Care to the Global Poor: Solving the Accessibility Problem,” was authored by Rice’s Marc Epstein, distinguished research professor of management, and Eric G. Bing, director for global health at the Bush Institute. It appears in the latest edition of the MIT Press publication Innovations.

“People are dying from diseases that we know how to cure, such as tuberculosis, malaria and dysentery,” Epstein said. “But there are a number of current problems in the way that we deliver life-saving medicine, technologies and care. And this is where business professionals can step in and make a difference: Businesses know how to disseminate products and services.”

In developing countries, health care often relies on both the public and private sectors. Unfortunately, these sectors are often poorly coordinated, regulated and supported, which results in gaps in services, lost opportunities and unsustainable systems, Epstein said. In many countries, health care providers compete with each other. Often, these providers serve only marginally overlapping markets with radically different types of services. Thus, significant benefits can follow from integrating a comprehensive distribution plan.

In the report (see page 128), Epstein and Bing identify five distribution channels