Imagine a future where everyone can attain the highest level of health and well-being possible and where people have access to the health services they need when and where they need them.
At IDB Lab, we know innovation has no limits, and we believe its transformational power must be leveraged to find the most impactful healthcare solutions and to bring them to the people and communities that need them the most. This year, IDB Lab is celebrating its 30th anniversary of instrumentalizing innovation to better respond to the needs of Latin America and the Caribbean, and today, on World Health Day, we take the opportunity to highlight how IDB Lab works with innovation to find solutions that help address the healthcare challenges facing our region.
Diabetes is a much prevalent condition in our region. Clínicas del Azúcar, in Mexico, is a network of low-cost "one-stop-shops" that offer high-quality, patient-centered, and cost-effective healthcare to treat and prevent diabetes. The clinics of this initiative, launched in 2012, have attended more than 30,000 patients in seven locations, and there are plans to expand to 200 clinics in the coming years. The objective of the project “Affordable Diabetes Health Care Services for the Base of the Pyramid (BoP)” is to encourage Clínicas del Azúcar to increase its penetration in the BoP while maintaining a standard of quality services of affordable health care. This initiative is helping to lower the risk of investing and piloting a new BoP-custom clinic and designing tailored campaigns to roll out.
Since our founding in 1993, IDB Lab has had to evolve and adapt our responses to the changing challenges of the region and the world, for instance, the disruptive effects of COVID-19. In 2020, the pandemic highlighted gaps in our healthcare systems, such as limited access to testing, treatment, and vaccines. Our efforts focused on addressing the economic and social impacts of COVID-19. Just a few weeks after the pandemic outbreak in Latin America and the Caribbean, we mobilized the entrepreneurship and impact investment ecosystems in the region to propose health solutions and work with digital technologies that could help the regional crisis. In record time, IDB Lab selected and financed 20 COVID-19 prototypes that offered innovative solutions to serve not only the most vulnerable populations but our entire region. This is the case of Neuralmed, a startup that proposed software that uses artificial intelligence to detect pathologies in chest X-rays, increasing the detection and early diagnosis of COVID, and that was accessible from small hospitals in Amazonia to big hospital facilities in major cities.
The “One drone at a time” initiative, where drones are being used to transport medical supplies and samples, is another clear example of how innovation can improve access to healthcare in rural areas. This project implemented in the Dominican Republic studied how drones can transport medical samples from remote areas to primary care centers, reducing transfer time by over 30% and costs by 35-40%.
BID Lab's Medix Lab initiative in El Salvador is another groundbreaking innovation in the field of health. This project introduced the first virtual reality laboratory for nursing students, offering a hands-on and immersive learning experience for basic processes. By leveraging virtual reality technology, Medix Lab enhances the quality of nursing education and training, thereby improving students’ readiness before they undertake hospital internships.
Medix Lab has already made a significant impact, benefiting more than 3,000 students and 200,000 medical service consultation users. Additionally, the initiative has also benefitted 1,000 newborns, who have received better care from nurses who have undergone training through Medix Lab.
World Health Day is a global health awareness day in which we are reminded of the critical need for sustained investment in healthcare innovation. As we celebrate IDB Lab’s 30th anniversary, we recommit ourselves to addressing the region's health challenges and to keep advancing healthcare solutions and technologies that can ensure all people have access to quality health services and improve the lives of millions in our region.