HERhealthEQ

I am applying for the Elevate Prize because I believe every woman deserves access to adequate medical devices that detect, treat, and prevent non-communicable diseases (NCDs) – and I have a solution to deliver effective medical equipment to clinics and doctors in low and middle-income countries where women are most underserved.  NCDs have been the leading cause of death among women for over 30 years, and the rates are rapidly increasing in low and middle-income countries. I want to reverse this trend by providing women with equitable access to the screenings and treatment they need – particularly cervical cancer screening, breast cancer screening, and treatment and early detection of abnormalities during pregnancy. Deaths related to these causes are highly preventable with access to critical medical devices.  

My organization’s solution of working with medical device manufacturers and local clinics and doctors is working, but we lack the resources to expand our reach. If selected as a winner, I will use the Elevate Prize funding to invest in my nonprofit organization, HERhealthEQ, to ensure our organizational resilience, I will also invest in our programmatic work – specifically in procuring essential medical device equipment and increasing the efficacy of our impact data collection.  

I learned my purpose nine years ago when I realized that the lives of millions of women around the world could be saved with the use of proper medical device equipment.  Women in low and middle-income countries are dying from treatable non-communicable diseases at rapidly progressing rates. In fact, 82% of all premature NCD-related deaths are in low and middle-income countries (WHO). 

I launched HERhealthEQ because as a 20-year medtech executive who spent 15 years in significant engineering and operational roles with medical device manufacturers around the world, I knew firsthand that women can be saved with the proper use of effective medical equipment. I also knew that there was enough equipment to reach low and middle-income countries that don’t have the same standard of community healthcare as the developed world. The solution HERhealthEQ provides is the link between the clinics and doctors who need the proper equipment and training, and the medical device manufacturers who have usable surplus equipment that’s headed for a landfill. My vision and goal for the future is to ensure that every woman has the access she deserves to medical equipment that could save her life from highly treatable disease.

$765 Billion of medical equipment is thrown away each year in the USA alone.  At least 40%+ of that equipment is durable medical equipment that is fully functional and has been thrown away to make room in a warehouse or because of a marketing change (logo, color, etc).  If just 10% of that equipment was repurposed, millions of lives could be saved.

Non-communicable diseases cause two in three deaths among women annually (WHO).  Women around the world are disproportionately affected by NCDs.  Gender disparities in healthcare access – particularly in low and middle-income countries – create an even greater risk for women. Women often go undiagnosed and untreated because they simply are not screened for highly treatable NCDs, like breast and cervical cancers. 

HERhealthEQ is filling the gap between usable, functional medical equipment that is planned to be disposed of and the local clinics and healthcare centers in countries that need the equipment.  We partner with medical device manufacturers to obtain their equipment and we partner with governments, organizations, and healthcare providers in low and middle-income countries to ensure the equipment is used to detect, treat, and prevent NCDs in local women.

HERhealthEQ is repurposing usable medical equipment in a new directed way.    

Our competitors collect medical equipment from hospitals and without certifying its quality, ship it to another country.  There is often no oversight about what the receiving health center needs or if there are trained professionals who know how to properly use the equipment. Due to these factors, the equipment often goes unused and within one year of donation, 70% of donated equipment ends up in a landfill, perpetuating the cycle of waste the donation process had intended to stop.

HERhealthEQ utilizes a targeted approach that works specifically with the receiving sites and only sends what they ask for and will make use of.  Additionally, we service the equipment for at least 2 years, provide training and installation support for all equipment - online, in-person, or through our local partners in each location. HERhealthEQ monitors all donated equipment to ensure its functionality and collects quarterly impact metrics from the health centers using the equipment. 

Our model is innovative because we are not a traditional donor of medical device equipment – but rather, we work in a trusting partnership with local clinics, governments, etc. to procure the devices they really need.

HERhealthEQ is impacting women in low and middle-income countries by providing them with equitable access to medical devices that detect, prevent, and treat NCDs and diseases associated with pregnancy. Around the globe, women have unequal access to healthcare and lack agency over their own bodies. Two of every three deaths of women each year are caused by NCDs. Many of these deaths are preventable with the right medical equipment. The global disparities in adequate healthcare only exacerbate the issue of preventable death of women. HERhealthEQ is filling the gap by providing equitable access for all women – regardless of socioeconomic status or location. HERhealthEQ is actively partnering in Tanzania, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Vietnam, and India to provide critical medical device equipment that is saving women’s lives. And we are just getting started. I am confident that our model works, and with additional funding we plan to expand to Latin America and further in East Africa. I believe that HERhealthEQ can reverse the mortality rate of women from NCDs, empowering millions of women to live healthy, long, and fulfilling lives.