Leon Barretto

Health innovation is often developed in response to local challenges, fueled from frontline health workers by unique needs and opportunities. A growing social innovation in healthcare movement shows that innovation is more effective when it emerges bottom-up from low-income and middle-income countries. Social innovation in healthcare is a community-engaged process that links social change and health improvement, drawing on the diverse strengths of local individuals and institutions. Social innovation in healthcare is an informal network of individuals and institutions sharing a common goal to advance social innovation in health, through research, capacity building and advocacy, to accelerate progress toward universal health coverage and meet the Sustainable Development Goals.

With the spread of social media and digital capabilities, patients are able to use search engines to research information about their health problems on a daily basis. These resources may prove to be valuable for patients, researchers, policymakers and hospital administrators. These data can be extremely useful for healthcare providers and pharmaceutical companies as they try to find ways to improve and efficiently support the patient experience. So, this process can enable healthcare professionals and pharmaceutical companies to enrich their knowledge and appreciation of patients’ preferences and symptoms, as well as their responses to various treatments.

Social innovation taps into the creativity and power of local supporters, disrupting established systems of health services delivery and helping to achieve several sustainable development goals. However, in order to reap the full benefits of social innovation in health, researchers, governments, and health professionals need to adapt. Researchers need to remember that many people in low-income and middle-income countries have already developed frugal health innovations designed for the last-mile context. Rigorous research engaging all actors is needed to test, optimize, and scale these innovations. Governments need to guide reassessments on how beneficiaries fit into health systems.