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"Reverse Innovation” Could Save Lives. Why Aren't We Embracing It?
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"Reverse Innovation” Could Save Lives. Why Aren't We Embracing It?

Cheap and simple medical devices could improve performance and lower health-care costs, but first they have to overcome deeply rooted biases.

Tom Vanderbilt
The New Yorker, 2019
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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Eye Opening
  • Engaging

Recommendation

Doctors and nurses practicing in developing countries prove, often movingly, the old adage about necessity being the mother of invention – finding simple, affordable solutions that save lives and improve outcomes under difficult circumstances. Writing for the New Yorker, Tom Vanderbilt investigates innovative devices and techniques making their way from the developing world to medical practice in the West. Vanderbilt’s story touches on questions about access, economic motives in health care and bigotry to explain why these inventive solutions often face resistance in the developed world.

Take-Aways

  • Low-cost medical solutions are saving lives and reducing costs in developing countries.
  • Innovative, low-cost medical techniques could improve outcomes and reduce costs in wealthier countries, too.
  • But these low-cost solutions can face stiff resistance in developed countries.

About the Author

Tom Vanderbilt is the best-selling author of You May Also Like: Taste in an Age of Endless Choice and Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do.

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