Health innovation ecosystems must connect meaningfully with health system needs: Part 2 of 3 takeaways from the World Health Innovation Forum on why grassroots innovations are key to addressing NCDs

Countries urgently need novel and low-cost interventions to prevent NCDs, diagnose them earlier and treat and care for people living with NCDs more efficiently and effectively. Governments also require new forms of multisectoral collaboration to reduce the complex risk factors associated with NCDs, such as tobacco use, physical inactivity, unhealthy diets, harmful use of alcohol and air pollution.

Yet, the culture of innovation in global health has historically been weighted towards supply rather than demand, favouring costly, high-tech innovations over inexpensive, social ones. This has led to a tendency to “over-engineer” new products or services. This both reflects and worsens a misalignment between the realities of health system needs in countries and available innovations, which risk proving less effective than intended or neglecting the populations that need them the most.

In contrast, grassroots innovations are designed in direct response to priority health needs in resource-constrained settings. Much can be learned from this approach and applied to NCD responses, including concepts such as “radical simplification” (leaving out surplus features), or the processes of combination (bringing two unrelated ideas or disciplines together to create entirely new solutions), permutation (testing out different versions of an existing solution) and substitution (swapping around key components of a solution).

The principles of grassroots innovations can provide a valuable framework for reducing misalignments between health needs and innovations and, most importantly, ensure no one is left behind on the road to achieving global NCD targets by 2030 and sustaining momentum into future decades.

Background

Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are among the world’s most urgent and complex health challenges. Cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease and mental health conditions account for over 74% of all global deaths, and their complex risk factors are often intertwined with the negative impacts of additional determinants of health. NCDs are also a matter of equity, as the vast majority of the 17 million premature NCD-related deaths every year occur in lower- and middle-income countries.

Contextualizing and scaling proven, cost-effective interventions such as the “NCD best buys” remains a priority, but innovative solutions are urgently needed to fast-track progress and avert millions of preventable deaths from NCDs.

The recent World Health Innovation Forum in Vizag, India explored strategies to sustainably scale health innovations through the public sector.

This article presents the second of three takeaways on why and how grassroots innovations addressing NCDs can be a part of the solution.