Philips Foundation publishes its 2020 Annual Report highlighting the deployment of health technology expertise for underserve...
May 04 2021 - 4:01AM
Philips Foundation publishes its 2020 Annual Report highlighting
the deployment of health technology expertise for underserved
communities
May 4, 2021
- 75 successful projects rolled out, including over 40 activities
dedicated to combatting COVID-19 in 2020
- Over 7.5 million people in underserved communities provided
with access to healthcare in 2020
- A global community of social entrepreneurs nurtured through
development and scaling of sustainable models that provide
affordable access to quality healthcare
Amsterdam, the Netherlands –
Philips Foundation, with its mission to provide access to quality
healthcare for underserved communities through meaningful
innovation, today announced publication of its 2020 Annual Report.
The report outlines the success of more than 75 projects in 2020
that resulted in 7.5 million people in disadvantaged communities
around the world having access to affordable quality healthcare
services. This includes projects in China, Africa, Europe, and the
Middle East.
“2020 was an incredibly challenging year, with the COVID-19
pandemic bringing the importance of global access to quality
healthcare into sharp perspective,” says Margot Cooijmans, Director
of the Philips Foundation. The urgency of our support responses
worldwide took a dazzling flight. I am incredibly grateful to all
the partners who joined forces with us in 2020 to deliver timely
relief as well as lasting change, and to the employees of Philips
and the Philips Foundation, for their constant support and energy
in putting our mission into action - organizing access to
healthcare for underserved communities.”
COVID-19 response
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck at the beginning of 2020,
Philips Foundation stepped up its efforts to protect those
communities most at risk. Notable examples highlighted in the
organization’s Annual Report include:
- Healthcare equipment for Thunder God Mountain Hospital (China)
– with the support of Philips China, the Philips Foundation donated
urgently needed healthcare equipment with a value of approximately
EUR 2 million to the newly-built Thunder God Mountain Hospital in
Wuhan city to support the prevention and treatment of pneumonia
associated with COVID-19.
- AI software to detect and monitor COVID-19 patients (South
Africa) – with the help of implementation funding from the
Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) and Dutch entrepreneurial
development bank FMO, the Philips Foundation helped to deploy
artificial intelligence (AI) software that deepens the analysis of
chest X-rays to help the rapid triage and monitoring of COVID-19
patients in 11 South African hospitals.
- Machine learning and AI to identify epidemic outbreaks (Africa)
- a donation by Philips Foundation to establish a Virus Outbreak
Data Network in Africa aimed at improving the findability,
accessibility, interoperability and reuse of digital assets,
including data from Africa’s health systems to identify and contain
COVID-19 outbreaks.
- Rapid deployment intensive care units (Italy and Lebanon) -
development and procurement support to create 20-bed mobile ICUs
that can be rapidly deployed to locations where COVID-19 threatens
to overwhelm local healthcare infrastructures. With financial help
from the AFAS Foundation and Noaber Foundation, two of these units
were deployed to the Lombardy region and the island of Sardinia in
Italy, and in collaboration with Philips Lebanon, the Lebanese
Army, and the EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid (ECHO)
organization, another was deployed in Lebanon’s capital,
Beirut.
A full list of Philips Foundation’s COVID-19 response efforts is
available on its website.
In addition to its COVID-19 response efforts, Philips Foundation
succeeded in initiating new projects and keeping other ones going.
Two examples that stand out are Philips Foundation’s joint
initiative with UNICEF to fund and support the ‘Maker Innovation’
project in Kenya, and its collaboration with UK charity Global
Action Plan to launch the ‘The Clean Air for Schools
Framework’.
- Maker Innovation project in Kenya - a ‘change the system from
within’ initiative aimed at achieving better mother-, newborn-, and
child-health in low-resource environments, by fostering local
hands-on innovation and entrepreneurship to locally create and
manufacture solutions that meet local needs. The project’s ‘Maker
Space’ is equipped with digital fabrication tools and equipment for
use by students at the University of Nairobi. Through support from
the Philips Foundation and training from Philips, the project has
already resulted in the development of 19 medical device
prototypes, seven of which have been judged suitable for further
development.
- Clean Air for Schools Framework - a framework providing
schools, teachers, parents and local authorities in the UK and the
Republic of Ireland with an externally validated action blueprint
for tackling air pollution in and around schools. With evidence
suggesting that halving outdoor air pollution could result in a 20%
to 50% reduction in the number of children with poor lung function
[1], the tool was so well received that the blueprint is now being
rolled out across Spain.
New direction
In 2020, Philips Foundation made a strategic decision to focus
on partnerships with social entrepreneurs to develop healthcare
technologies and sustainable models that provide underserved
communities with affordable access to healthcare - models that
leverage the business and innovation expertise and resources of
Philips to facilitate solution development and scale-up.
Philips Foundation helped 50 Healthy Entrepreneurs franchisees
in Uganda, small businesses in local communities that sell
over-the-counter medicines and health products, to expand their
services with diagnostic tools and telehealth services. This
resulted in increased public awareness of disease, better insight
into patients’ conditions, reduced patient expenses, and increased
revenue.
In addition, Philips Foundation provided a loan to CheckUps
Medical, a provider of affordable primary healthcare services in
Kenya and South Sudan, to help more low-wage families access
medicines and care, launch a mobile clinic, and further develop
CheckUps’ teleconsultation and home care services that started
during the local lockdown. Philips Foundation also enabled the
setting up of the Solvoz rapid humanitarian aid procurement
platform, as well as the Mondmaskerfabriek, which at the beginning
of the COVID-19 crisis was the Netherlands’ first surgical face
mask manufacturer.
As the Philips foundation moves forward, it will continue to
foster innovation and create scalable models that make healthcare
provision more equal and open to millions of people in underserved
parts of the world.
To read the full Annual Report, click here.
[1] Whitehouse A, Effects of air pollution exposure on child
health and do interventions work?, Centre for Genomics and Child
Health, Blizard Institute, Queen Mary University of London (UK)
https://www.globalactionplan.org.uk/files/effects_of_air_pollution_exposure_by_dr_abigail_whitehouse.pdf
For further information, please
contact:
Yannick EshuijsPhilips FoundationTel.: +31 6 1852 6633E-mail:
yannick.eshuijs@philips.com
About the Philips FoundationPhilips Foundation
is a registered charity that was established in 2014 – founded on
the belief that innovation and collaboration can help solve some of
the world’s toughest healthcare challenges for the underserved and
make essential impact. Reflecting our commitment to United Nations
SDGs 3 (Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all
ages) and 17 (Revitalize the global partnership for sustainable
development), the mission of the Foundation is to reduce healthcare
inequality by providing access to quality healthcare for
disadvantaged communities. Philips Foundation fulfills its mission
by deploying Philips’ expertise, innovative products and solutions,
by collaborating with key partners around the world (including
respected NGOs such as UNICEF, Amref and Save the Children), and by
providing financial support for the collaborative activities. More
information on can be found at www.philips-foundation.com
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