..A team from around Europe travelled to Dhaka to spend a morning listening to Dr Yunus' 69th birthday wishes
on priority uses of the world's greatest invention. He is searching the world for 4 particular kinds of partnership - each
involves a benchmark club of leaders of world's most resourced organisations and how they can value partnering one
of the world's most trusted grassrooots networks serving life critical needs
We welcome content discussion at our Washington DC Bureau usa tel 301 881 1655
June 29 sees the first of a summer series of Future Capitalism dialogues around Yunus in Dhaka designed to end the world of two industry sectors that are compounding
10 times more cost or risk than 7
billion people need for markets to be free and century 21 to be happy instead
if dismal -
let's end 10 times too costly banking and universities in 09 - more info DC bureau 301 881 1655
ad2008.5,
FC0.5 : The year Internetworking for the poor began
Grameen Intel: Social Business of Ending Digital Divide
*First news of his change of job mission from software for the rich to connecting top of the world
to Yunus bottom billion internetworking for the poor
At Clinton GI, Yunus announced Grameen Nurse Training Centre in Dhaka with funds from Nike Foundation and Novo , and training support from Glasgow Caledonian, one of the Universities partnering Yunushttp://www.centredaily.com/news/education/story/1523618.html This new vision of health for girls disrupts the current health care marketplace in Bangladesh with a new approach to health
education and service. This financially sustainable and replicable model will help ensure that the health needs of the hardest-to-reach
girls are met, while providing a pathway to labor-market opportunity. Specifically, the Grameen Nurse Institute will both
benefit girls – as recipients of health care services and information – and position them as the future health
care workforce by: 1. addressing the shortage of nurses through innovative teaching techniques and recruitment of rural young
women, 2. creating a first-of-its-kind curriculum focused on the unique health needs of adolescent girls, and 3. creating
a sustainable social business model with nurses as the central actors of the health care system. Read more: http://www.centredaily.com/news/education/story/1523618.html#ixzz0SuVLA1Ur
parallel celebrations in birthday week include : 80 times more economical dinking water -grameen veolia project has been launched in Daudkandi upazila here to supply drinking water to the people of the arsenic-hit people. Health
and Family Welfare Minister Dr AFM Ruhal Haq formally inaugurated the project opening a water treatment plant at Goalmari
in the upazila on Wednesday. It is the first project of Grameen Veolia Water Limited, established jointly by Grameen Health
Care Services Limited and France Violia Water. On the occasion, a programme was held on the premises of Goalmari High School.
Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus, also chairman of Grameen Veolia Water Limited, Maj Gen (retd) Subed Ali Bhuiyan MP, Chief
Executive Officer of France Violia Water Antoine Frerot and Managing Director of Grameen Veolia Water Limited Patrick Rousseau
were present. Under the project, pure water will be supplied to 7,500 families of Padua and Goalmari unions through the 7kms
pipeline network at a nominal price. Meghna River will be the main source of water in the project. In the initial level, 30,000
litres of pure water will be supplied through 11 taps in Goalmari daily and the project work will be extended to the Padua
union gradually. Local people can collect water from the taps at a fixed time daily. If the project works successfully, Grameen
Veolia Water Limited will set up 20 more water treatment plants across the country by 2012.
ROCHESTER, Minn., May 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Mayo Clinic and Grameen Healthcare are
exploring opportunities to benefit global, underserved populations by leveraging Mayo Clinic's knowledge and expertise in
health care and Grameen's capabilities in effective, low-cost distribution models. A multi-disciplinary team from Mayo Clinic
has just returned from a site visit to Bangladesh where it was agreed that following an initial demonstration project in Bangladesh
in 2009-2010, the two organizations would investigate additional endeavors in Bangladesh as well as the application of learned,
low-cost health care delivery models in the United States.
The initial project of the Mayo Clinic-Grameen Healthcare collaboration, led by Mayo Clinic gastroenterologist
Santhi Swaroop Vege, M.D., will focus on the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of parasites, a common and persistent problem
in developing countries. Mayo Clinic will offer clinical oversight and expertise, while the project will be carried out primarily
by Grameen Healthcare workers in Bangladesh. The pilot project will allow the two organizations to collaboratively identify
additional needs in Bangladesh that might be served by Mayo Clinic.
It will also offer experience in lower cost
health care delivery models that could be applied in the United States. Translating these experiences to the underinsured
in the U.S. is a key interest of Mayo Clinic.
Grameen Bank, founded by Nobel Peace Laureate Muhammad Yunus, has
7.7 million borrowers in Bangladesh. The bank uses a trust-based approach to lend to the poorest of the poor. Based on lessons
learned over 30 years through the Grameen Bank, Grameen Healthcare has built 48 physician-led rural primary care clinics that
have achieved 93 percent operational sustainability without the need for any subsidies or loans, through a combination of
a micro-health insurance plan, payment at the point of service, pharmaceutical sales and lab tests.
"This
collaboration allows our organizations to pursue our shared strategic priorities and vision to improve the health of populations
around the world," says Denis Cortese, M.D., president and CEO of Mayo Clinic. "Grameen has been successful in implementing
low-cost distribution models in banking, which benefit the very poor. We are hopeful that together, using Mayo Clinic's knowledge
of health care and effective models of care, we can leverage the same concepts of these simple and highly effective distribution
models to teach prevention, diagnose disease and deliver care in a low-cost way, both in the developing world and in the United
States." Future collaborations might involve the sharing of Mayo Clinic health information and knowledge via cell phones
or other technologies to rural communities and health care providers in the developing world; global research initiatives
exploring the cause, prevention, and treatment of chronic diseases; and training of Grameen health care workers.
Dr Yunus mentions Grameen BASF FC partnership during Stern NYU talk on 27 january. As well as BASF's mention in the
multi-health case announcement mentioned in earlier blog posting, this presentation shows that BASF supplies fortified vitamins to Grameen Danone yogurt. Later in the same week reports from the World Economic Forum reveal:
Yunus finalised the joint venture agreement to set up production plant
in Bangladesh to produce nutrition supplement and treated mosquito nets, with Dr Humbrecht, CEO of BASF, a giant German company. further reports on Grameen BASF http://muhammadyunus.org/content/view/197/128/lang,en/
Grameen
Healthcare Trust and GE Healthcare announces partnership to explore social business healthcare delivery models for Bangladesh
and other countries of the developing world Partnership Supports Social Business Models To Help Address Health Needs Of
4 Billion People Around the World Who Live on Less Than a US$ 3 a day
Dhaka December
22, 2008 --
Grameen Healthcare Trust, a sister company of Grameen Bank , the pioneering micro-financing organization in Bangladesh
that shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for its work to alleviate poverty and GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric
Company (NYSE: GE), today announced that they will work together to develop prototype of social businesses for
healthcare delivery in Bangladesh, to be replicated in other countries of the developing world.
The partners will jointly evaluate ways
to improve Grameen Healthcare Trust's existing healthcare delivery systems and primary care clinics in rural Bangladesh.
At the end of an initial period, they will try to see if these social business model can be replicated in other countries,
addressing the needs of the 4 billion people around the world whose income is less than US$ 3 a day.
During the
next year, the partnership will focus on the following areas:
· Primary health
promotion and disease prevention, the most cost effective steps in affordable health care
·
Evaluate product, training, workflow, and other capabilities that would be needed for full deployment of ultrasound capability
in rural areas
· Developing continuous training programs for nurses, technicians
and physicians in the usage of ultrasound
· Reviewing operating efficiencies and
scope of services (e.g., telemedicine, mobile health care) at Grameen's rural clinics.
GE Healthcare, an arm of US-based General Electric, plans to revolutionise rural health services in countries like India and Bangladesh
"the same way as cellphones did", a senior company executive said today..
"GE wanted to enter into rural
healthcare in a big way and revolutionise in the same way as cell phones did. We have embarked on several programmes in Bangladesh
and India especially on maternal care," he said at the 94th Radiological Society of North America (RSNA-2008) which ended
here today.
In Bangladesh, the GEHC is also taking help of microfinancing programme of Nobel laureate Mohammad
Yunus and his Grameen Bank. "If we succeed in the maternal care in Grameen health programme, we can translate that to
cardiac care and other ailments," he said.
Health experts from across the world opined at the conference
that investing in education and empowering rural population with information about healthcare
Rich Bagger (SVP, Worldwide Public Affairs & Policy, Pfizer) was the only speaker to consistently refer to his company as being in
the “life sciences” business. Why is this so hard for everyone else to remember ? One of Rich’s themes was
“new roads to access.” And he offered a very early yet tantalizing example – Pfizer’s partnership
with the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh (yes – the one run by Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus). Pfizer and Grameen are developing
a “micro health insurance model” along the lines of Grameen’s well-known micro-credit programs. According
to Bagger, a policy might cost $20/month of which $3 would go towards pharmaceutical coverage
Grameen Health to Establish Independent Collaborations with Pfizer, GE Healthcare,
and Mayo Clinic to Create Sustainable Healthcare Delivery Models for the Developing World
Partnerships Will Support Development of Business Models That Meet the Health Needs
of 4 Billion People Around the World Who Live on Annual Incomes of Less Than $3,000
BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Grameen Health, an affiliate of Grameen Bank, the pioneering micro-financing organization in Bangladesh that shared the
Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for its work to alleviate poverty, announced today that it will establish independent partnerships
with Pfizer Inc., GE Healthcare, and Mayo Clinic to create sustainable models for healthcare delivery in the developing world.
Grameen Health has chosen to work independently with these partners because of their respective expertise: Pfizer Inc
is the world’s largest research-based pharmaceutical company, GE Healthcare is the world’s
largest manufacturer of medical devices such as ultrasound and CT/MRI, and Mayo Clinic is the world’s first
and largest integrated, not-for-profit group practice.
These multiple, independent collaborations will focus on social
business models in which the businesses are self-supporting and any profits are re-invested into the system in order to reach
more of the poor. This approach is cost-effective and maximizes the benefits that patients receive. The models will be transferable
to other healthcare delivery systems.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), among the biggest obstacles
to improved health outcomes are inadequate health delivery and financing mechanisms that place the heaviest burden on the
poor and sick, who are the least able to pay.
The independent collaborations will initially explore and evaluate ways
to improve the existing Grameen Health delivery and financing systems in Bangladesh, with the aim of creating models that
can be adapted for the needs of the 4 billion people around the world whose annual income is less than $3,000.
“As
we address the challenges of global health access, we are pleased to partner with these and other organizations that share
our belief that solutions to improving access to medicines and healthcare can be socially responsible and sustainable, yet
commercially viable,” said Professor Muhammad Yunus, who shared the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize with Grameen
Bank, which he founded and now directs. “In Bangladesh, we have found that only an economically viable
solution can create the infrastructure needed to enable people to sustain themselves, alleviating the poverty cycle. We believe
our knowledge and expertise in micro-financing can be applied toward the development of a sustainable health care system.”
During the next year, the collaborations will focus on the following areas:
Implementing
primary health promotion and disease prevention programs. These are the most cost-effective steps in affordable health care,
and include maternal and child health promotion and nutrition programs.
Analyzing
ways to expand and improve the current low-cost micro-health delivery and insurance programs at Grameen Health’s
38 existing Kalyan clinics.
Developing continuous training programs for nurses, technicians
and physicians.
Reviewing operating efficiencies and scope of services (e.g., telemedicine,
mobile health care) at Grameen Health’s Kalyan clinics.
Introducing
genomic, epidemiological, and outcomes research capability for the prevention and treatment of diseases relevant to the population
in Bangladesh, with an emphasis on the best use of existing tested and approved procedures and drugs.
Grameen
Health and its partners hope to develop appropriate and sustainable models for healthcare delivery and rural primary care
clinics, with the goal of replicating these models in other countries. Pfizer is dedicating key employees to provide technical
and advisory support to evaluate Grameen’s existing healthcare delivery systems in Bangladesh. GE Healthcare
will test delivery of ultrasound capability in rural clinics for early detection of abnormalities, and Mayo Clinic will work
to improve the training, efficiency, and retention of staff at existing Grameen Health Kalyan clinics.
“Pfizer
is honored to work with Grameen to explore the development of nonconventional, efficient and sustainable health financing
and delivery models. We believe Grameen’s world-renowned success in providing innovative financial solutions
for the poor, coupled with Pfizer’s health care experience, human capital and extensive arsenal of medicines,
has the potential to improve the lives of millions of patients,” said Jean-Michel Halfon, Area President
of Canada, Latin America, Africa, and Middle East pharmaceutical operations, Pfizer Inc.
“GE Healthcare
is committed to early health initiatives,” said Omar Ishrak, President and Chief Executive Officer, Clinical
Systems, GE Healthcare. “We have affordable technology with advanced imaging and care capabilities that
can make a difference to save lives. With the ubiquitous usage of ultrasound, GE believes it’s provided
a crucial tool in the early care of expectant mothers. We intend to work with Grameen Health to further understand and expand
ultrasound usage in rural areas. Through this pilot program we plan to train providers in the usage of ultrasound, evaluate
the product, the training and the workflow that would be needed to enable the full deployment of this technology. This is
one positive step towards accessible and sustainable healthcare for the developing world.”
“Mayo
Clinic and Grameen are exploring opportunities where our organizations can work collaboratively based on the junction of our
missions and strategic priorities,” said Denis Cortese, M.D., president & CEO, Mayo Clinic. “These
opportunities range from new methods of delivering care and dissemination of knowledge and best practices to education, clinical
research and the use of new technology in non-traditional settings. Our two organizations are working diligently to find the
opportunities that will have the best likelihood of improving health care delivery in developing countries.”
Professor Yunus adds: “Improving health care access and quality worldwide is a huge and long-term
project. We would like to invite other partners and thought leaders to join in on the collaboration with Grameen Health, or
to create their own social health care business models and share the results with us.”
GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services
that help clinicians around the world with new ways to predict, diagnose, inform and treat disease. GE Healthcare's broad
range of products and services enables health care providers to better diagnose and treat cancer, heart disease, neurological
diseases and other conditions earlier. GE Healthcare’s vision is to enable a new "early health"
model of care focused on earlier diagnosis, pre-symptomatic disease detection and disease prevention. For more information
about GE Healthcare, visit http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gehealthcare.com&esheet=5786850&lan=en_US&anchor=www.gehealthcare.com&index=1
About Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is the first and largest integrated, not-for-profit group practice
in the world. Doctors from every medical specialty work together to care for patients, joined by common systems and a “patient
first” philosophy. More than 3,300 physicians, scientists and researchers and 46,000 allied health staff
work at Mayo Clinic, which has sites in Rochester, Minn., Jacksonville, Fla., and Scottsdale/Phoenix, Ariz. Collectively,
the three locations treat more than half a million people each year. For more information about Mayo Clinic, visit http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mayoclinic.com&esheet=5786850&lan=en_US&anchor=www.mayoclinic.com&index=1
About Grameen Health
Grameen Health (GH) aims to extend the success of the microfinance model
to health care by designing and developing a bottom-up health care infrastructure built from sustainable best practices in
a broad range of health care services around the world, and improving upon them to deliver the highest quality health care
in an efficient and sustainable manner for a broad market, including the poorest of the poor. GH will enable the poor to be
self sufficient in addressing their health care needs such that they can accept, but not require, outside assistance.
GH
will be a nation-wide healthcare service for all people, but particularly focused on the poor women and children. Just as
Grameen Bank brought financial services at an affordable price to poor women, GH will aim to bring state-of-the-art health
services to all people -- particularly poor women and children. GH is in discussion with some of the world’s
leading health providers. In addition to Mayo Clinic, GE Healthcare and Pfizer, Grameen is working on plans for collaborations
with Massachusetts General Hospital, John Hopkins Hospital of the USA, Narayana Hrudayalaya of India, Johnson and Johnson,
Bayer, BASF, Aga Khan University, and others.
This initiative will lead to the creation of
a world class medical college and hospital, specialized hospitals, research centers in a 200 acre Health City, a series of
nursing colleges, training programs for technicians, second tier hospitals, and rural health management centers throughout
the country. Each rural health management center will be dedicated to improving and maintaining the health status of the people
in its region, particularly focused on the poor women and children. These centers will be IT-linked with the Health City in
Dhaka for continuous attention by specialist doctors and nurses. Through the nursing colleges, GH will train Bangladeshis
-- particularly the newly educated class of Grameen borrowers’ daughters -- to choose nursing as a profession
and to serve in Bangladesh and abroad.
Contacts
Grameen Health Shadab Mahmud, 617-953-1665 Manager, Grameen Health shadab.mahmud@gmail.com ======================================== postcard from start of the year 08
first week of january
08: let me replay the 2nd time I met kazi islam of http://www.grameensolutions.com in dhaka 2 days after my first meeting with dr yunus where kazi ceo of the whole technology division had been called
in to take notes on a specification for the social action portal promised in chapter 11 of yunus blue book
first
he said dr yunus headhunted me out of michigan 12 months ago - I do 3 things : I worked with CK Prahalad on bottom billion business models; I work on ford superdesign projects- here's a trophy for best car engine teams have developed in ford
I won; my thing is technology for the poor- dr yunus is number 1 as internetworker for the poor its a pity he is too much
branded as banker for the poor
kazi continues : in the last 12 months dr yunus and I have been making presentations
up and down west coast usa to google, microsoft, yahoo , cisco, intel etc telling them they havent started using intrbet for
poor; they dont understand mobile partenrships either - see eg our http://www.bankabillion.org - this led 08 november to yunus getting prize that previously onmly gates and that sort had http://www.techawards.org/about/global_humanitarian_award/
attached is one of the concept brochures he gave me on installing 10000 networked nodes across bangladesh
india and china- my point is that these are practice people; I am not sure that history of technology reads light them up
as much as telling them someting outrageous that technology can do next; perhaps mostofa when he's back from the villlage
as this week is their xmas can add context
here are 2 main video interviews of kazi from yunus10000 youth dialogue resource kit:
GRAMEEN TRUST AND FUNDACIÓN CARLOS
SLIM ANNOUNCE JOINT VENTURE TO PROVIDE MICROCREDIT LOANS TO THE POOR IN MEXICO -- Venture will initially deploy $45 million (U.S.) for microcredit loans destined for needy individuals
in the poorest regions ofMexico.
Grameen Trust, the international
outreach affiliate of the Grameen Bank, and Fundación Carlos Slim A.C. (“Fundación Carlos Slim”),
the family charitable foundation of Mexican businessman Carlos Slim Helú, today announced that they will form a joint
venture known as Grameen-Carso to provide microcredit loans to Mexico’s poor.Grameen Trust and Fundación Carlos Slim
will equally own the joint venture, which expects to begin its microcredit operations in the poorest areas of Mexico, and later expand
operations to other regions within the MexicanTerritory.
Fundación Carlos Slim will provide $5 million of grant funding
and guarantee $40 million in loans to be provided to the venture.Grameen Trust will manage the operations
of the joint venture with microcredit experts from Grameen Bank.Eventually, Grameen’s managers will
train local management to manage the joint venture’s operations.
Grameen Carso intends to issue microcredit loans at
interest rates that are lower than those currently offered by other microcredit providers in Mexico.This will be a
social business --all profits of the joint venture will be recycled back into the business to expand operations.
Using
the lending model pioneered by the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, Grameen Carso will provide small microcredit loans to poor individuals to enable
them to create or expand small entrepreneurial initiatives.These loans will not require collateral
and instead will use a system of mutual support among the borrowers to encourage repayment.Borrowers also
will build savings during their loan-based relationship with Grameen Carso.Based on Grameen Bank’s
huge success in Bangladesh, where it serves over 7 million borrowers, and the success of other Grameen initiatives around the world, the joint
venture expects that income from entrepreneurial activities will provide borrowers with a path out of poverty and a foundation
for development of family health, education and general welfare.Like the Grameen Bank, Grameen Carso
expects to concentrate on loans to women, as experience has shown that women are the most successful and reliable borrowers.
Grameen
Carso reflects the commitment of Fundación Carlos Slim to greatly expand microcredit in Mexico for the benefit of persons who are
excluded from the traditional banking system.
Professor Muhammad Yunus, who founded the Grameen Bank and shared the 2006 Nobel
Peace Prize with the bank, said “it is obvious that poverty remains an enormous problem in Mexico and it also is obvious
from the history of the Grameen Bank that microcredit provides a direct and efficient means of reducing poverty.Through the entrepreneurial initiatives of borrowers and the education and financial training that are provided through
the Grameen lending model, borrowers build economic foundations for themselves and for their families and they focus on improving
their families’ education, health and general well-being.Grameen Bank has shown that microcredit
programs can be an economic success without charging exorbitant interest rates.I am enormously excited
by the opportunity to bring the Grameen model of microcredit to Mexico on a large scale and I am very
grateful to Mr. Slim and his foundation for providing the resources necessary to make Grameen Carso a reality.We welcome ideas and recommendations for improving the lives of the poor in Mexico and elsewhere”.
Examples of Brilliant Entrepreneurship of Grameen Inside
Grameen energy
- towards 100000 Green Jobs and a negative carbon rural economy
Ending digital divides with 220,000 Grameen Telephone Ladies
Youth Response to Grameen Projects
Youth
News From the Fringe of yuNus
What if timeless blogs were collaboratively designed to WinWinWin map
the way captains' logs of 1492 were born for search - see how humans fumble with flow access
to the wholeplanet - 25 years into future history reporting from 1998, and by microeconomics contexts, supported by JournalistsForHumanity
Recommendations
Media -form The Grameen Economist, founder James Wilsons' 1843 wish that
economics at least map end of hunger in a way everyone can do the right thing is newly urgent in 2008 -True Brits please retrieve BBC as world's number 1 service and social business of truth and curiosity
Water How
can the Industry Social Responsibility parters of Grameen-Veolia invite the world to make a hi-trust map of water as the number
1 flow around nature's planet - supporting blog water angels
Sun - support Dipal Barua's proposition that every day we fail to harness the energy gift of sunshine is a
cardinal waste