Good Healthcare Is Not The Prerogative Of The Rich Alone

In late July 2017, a report in the TOI highlighted above the infrastructure failures, such as doctors having to settle for lack of basic amenities like electricity & potable water, to the lives of their patients. I met Lynda during my visit with Johnson & Johnson to Johannesburg and their work with Unjani clinics.

Her Work Inspires Me

During my recent visit to Johannesburg, I met Lynda as part of the #LiveHealthyLiveWell initiative by @jnj to learn more about J&J’s partnership with Unjani clinics, all to support their purpose of changing the trajectory of health for humanity. What stood out was an empowered ecosystem built to make good healthcare a way of life and within walking distance to a patient seeking it. It is a brilliant model of empowered women and a perfect partnership between public and private healthcare. 

Lynda Toussaint is the CEO and is responsible for the implementation of a network of 100 Unjani Clinics nationally by the end of 2020. India boasts of a number of 1:921 patients, which is slightly ahead of the WHO prescription of 1:1000. We as parents have the luxuries of driving or walking to a healthcare centre, unlike many others in SA or in India, where a patient must travel for 60 kms to reach a medical centre.

The big impacts:

1. Empowering nurses and making them self-reliant
2. Access within a community that is walking distance
3. Nurses have the time, unlike doctors, to help people change their behaviour in order to discontinue the problem
4. Ownership leads to responsibility

While Unjani clinics are not present in India, J&J's work helps to empower doctors throughout our country with their training centre on wheels programme.

J&J's Institute on Wheels is a mobile training centre outfitted with surgical tools and training stations designed to offer surgeons hands-on experiences.

With a five-year mission to travel to over 400 towns and provide medical training to 25,000 surgeons across India, this initiative is working to make an impact on our healthcare system.

With models like Unjani being replicated, I am sure every mother, every child and every human will have access to healthcare, and it will no longer only be the prerogative of the rich. #ad #livehealthylivewell #jnj