DeepSummary
In this podcast episode, Paul Finceil interviews Josh Nesbitt, CEO of Medic Mobile, a nonprofit organization that builds open-source software to improve healthcare access in hard-to-reach areas. Nesbitt explains how his experience in Malawi, seeing the challenges of the healthcare system firsthand, led him to shift from pursuing medicine to entrepreneurship.
Nesbitt discusses Medic Mobile's approach of empowering community health workers to provide proactive, preventive care at the household level, supported by mobile technology. He emphasizes the importance of accurate data collection and a human-centered design process that puts the needs of marginalized communities first.
Nesbitt shares Medic Mobile's impact measurement framework called "distribution ethics," which guides decisions on resource allocation and partnerships based on a moral stance on equitable access to healthcare. He also highlights opportunities for technology to address challenges like urbanization and human migration, and calls for impact investors to prioritize equity over financial returns.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Community health workers are seen as agents of positive change, providing hope and inspiration for Medic Mobile's work.
- Medic Mobile builds open-source mobile technology to support community health workers in providing proactive, preventive care at the household level, especially in hard-to-reach areas.
- The nonprofit adopts a human-centered design approach, putting marginalized communities at the center of the process and empowering them to shape solutions.
- Medic Mobile's "distribution ethics" framework guides resource allocation and partnerships based on a moral stance on equitable access to healthcare.
- Accurate data collection and leveraging technology are crucial for improving healthcare equity and addressing systemic challenges like urbanization and human migration.
- Partnerships and collaboration across sectors are essential for achieving Medic Mobile's mission of building equitable healthcare systems.
- Nesbitt emphasizes the need for impact investors to prioritize equity over financial returns to drive real change in healthcare access.
- The nonprofit's approach offers an alternative, decentralized healthcare model that is more proactive, preventive, and equitable than traditional, institution-based systems.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “As soon as it's established that some people are harder to reach than others, you have an ethical problem and you have tensions. And at that point, you have to draw on wisdom traditions.“ by Josh Nesbitt
- “What we're building with communities is a totally different type of healthcare system, and it's now a reality for millions of people.“ by Josh Nesbitt
- “We put community health workers and community members at the center of the process, try to put them in the driver's seat with methods that feel really familiar to them.“ by Josh Nesbitt
- “I believe that the path out of that is caring for one another. And I think that as I look at it, we have decades of examples of people who are waking up every day to go out knock on doors, care for their neighbors.“ by Josh Nesbitt
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Episode Information
Conduit Conversations
Soho.Live Studios
10/5/20