Crowdsourcing to identify social innovation initiatives in health in low- and middle-income countries

Feasibility assessment of crowdsourcing slogans for promoting household waste segregation in India: a cross-sectional study

Introduction

Crowdsourcing is an emerging technique to engage or access a wider set of experts and multiple stakeholders through online platforms, which might effectively be employed in waste management. Therefore, we assessed the feasibility of the crowdsourcing method to provide an alternative approach that can improve household waste segregation using an "online-slogan-contest".

Methods

The contest was promoted via targeted emails to various governmental and non-governmental organizations and through social media platforms for around 4 weeks (25 days). The entries were received through a Google form. The slogans were assessed by the experts and analyzed using content analysis methods.

Results

Total 969 entries were received from different geographic regions in India. Of that, 456 were in English and 513 in Hindi. Five themes of waste segregation emerged from the received slogans: (1) Community awareness, responsibility, and support, (2) Significance of household waste segregation, (3) Use of separate dustbins, (4) Health and well-being, and (5) Environment and sustainability.

Discussion

Crowdsourcing approaches can be used by local authorities for improving waste management approaches and are recommended as these involve a wider audience within a short time frame. Moreover, this approach is flexible and integrating crowdsourcing approaches strengthens our understanding of existing waste management activities.

Social innovation in health: strengthening Community Systems for Universal Health Coverage in rural areas

BACKGROUND

In seeking the attainment of Universal Health Coverage (UHC), there has been a renewed emphasis on the role of communities. This article focuses on social innovation and whether this concept holds promise to enhance equity in health services to achieve UHC and serve as a process to enhance community engagement, participation, and agency.

METHODS

A cross-country case study methodology was adopted to analyze three social innovations in health in three low- and middle-income countries (LMICs): Philippines, Malawi, and Colombia. Qualitative methods were used in data collection, and a cross-case analysis was conducted with the aid of a simplified version of the conceptual framework on social innovation as proposed by Cajaiba-Santana. This framework proposes four dimensions of social innovation as a process at different levels of action: the actors responsible for the idea, the new idea, the role of the institutional environment, and the resultant changes in the health and social system.

RESULTS

The study found that each of the three social innovation case studies was based on developing community capacities to achieve health through community co-learning, leadership, and accountability. The process was dependent on catalytic agents, creating a space for innovation within the institutional context. In so doing, these agents challenged the prevailing power dynamics by providing the communities with respect and the opportunity to participate equally in creating and implementing programs. In this way, communities were empowered; they were not simply participants but became active agents in conceptualizing, implementing, monitoring, and sustaining the social innovation initiatives.

CONCLUSION

The study has illustrated how three creative social innovation approaches improved access and quality of health services for vulnerable rural populations and increased agency among the intervention communities. The processes facilitated empowerment, which in turn supported the sustained strengthening of the community system and the achievement of community goals in the domain of health and beyond.

A social innovation model for equitable access to quality health services for rural populations: a case from Sumpaz, a rural district of Bogota, Colombia

Background

Despite efforts to extend Universal Health Coverage in Colombia, rural and remote populations still face significant challenges in accessing equitable health services. Social innovation has been growing in Colombia as a creative response to the country’s social problems including access to healthcare. This paper presents the findings of a social innovation case study, which was implemented in the rural area of Sumapaz in  Colombia, with the purpose of holistically addressing the health needs of the local population and enhancing health service access.

Methods

A case study methodology was used to investigate and understand the process by which the Model of Integral Health Care for Rural Areas was developed and how the various strategies were defined and implemented. Qualitative methods were used in the data collection and all data was analysed using Farmer et al. staged framework on grassroots social innovation which includes growing the idea; implementing the idea; sustainability and diffusion.

Results

The social innovation model was designed as a co-learning process based on community participation. The model was implemented adopting a holistic health approach and considerate of the conditions of a rural context. As a result of this process, access to quality health services were enhanced for the vulnerable rural community. The model has also provided outcomes that transcend health and contribute to individual and community development in different areas eg. agriculture.

Conclusion

The Model of Integral Health Care for Rural Areas is a social innovation in health that demonstrates how Universal Health Coverage can be achieved for vulnerable populations through a series of creative strategies which fill systemic voids in access and co-ordination of care, as well as in addresings upstream environmental factors responsible for ill-health.

Marketing in social innovations targeted at healthcare

The paper deals with the implementation of marketing in social innovations, types of marketing, and the effects they can bring in the sphere of social innovations. The principalaim of the paper is to explain the possibilities of marketing approach implementation in social innovations and point out some specific areas of marketing which can contribute to more efficient applicability of social innovations and reaching a desirable change with social added value. The authors focused on the sphere of health and the population attitudes to its protection, emphasizing breast carcinoma prevention. The research was implemented on a sample of Slovak women to identify the level of women’s awareness of this issue, whether they are familiar with the methods of protecting their health and whether they use them. This study involved the methods of cluster analysis and binary logistic regression. The research uncovered the facts that are truly alarming from the perspective of societal benefit and women’s health protection. The respondents’ insufficient awareness and low activity in the field of their health protection result in the low level of prevention in this area on the side of women and on the side of medical doctors – specialists, particularly gynecologists. Such a situation includes the women’s insufficient awareness of prevention, low motivation, insufficient accessibility and validity of the needed data and precision, and doctor specialists’ lack of awareness of the possibilities and tools available to improve this area. That is exactly the space allowing for the use of marketing in a whole spectrum of its tools and processes and specific solutions capable of delivering the desired societal change and influencing women’s behavior in the preferred direction. Besides, it is especially effective to implement social marketing and social marketing programs that would mediate necessary information to the receivers and stimulate their motivation towards the desired approach to their health protection. The use of neuromarketing would be beneficial. It would be reflected in the better accuracy of the survey and thus the higher quality of the answers obtained. Based on them, it is subsequently possible to create better-targeted campaigns and strategies of social marketing that would approach the target audience more effectively than in acquiring the information via traditional marketing research methods. The findings would benefit marketing agencies, medical doctors (gynecologists, mammologists), and non-profit organizations actively working in this field.