“Step up to lead, and others will follow” – Our MedTech Industry’s Power to Champion for Change

It's hard to believe I’ve now been living outside of the United States for almost two years, having moved to Switzerland in 2017 to lead Johnson & Johnson’s Orthopaedics business in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. Initially, I focused my efforts primarily on our top markets in Europe, which represent the bulk of the business from a sales and profitability perspective and happen to be markets with more sophisticated healthcare systems and policies. But then a year ago I had the opportunity to travel to Ghana for the first time to visit a local non-profit organization, and it opened my eyes to the impact we can and need to make to improve healthcare in countries that don’t get our attention every day. 

Did you know that 70 percent of the world’s population doesn’t have access to safe, affordable and timely surgical care? That’s 5 billion out of our global population of 7 billion people, and the majority live in sub-Saharan Africa and other low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).[i] Why is this, when a disproportionate number of injuries, many caused by road traffic accidents, occur in LMICs? A study conducted in Ghana to compare the situation in one of the local hospitals to that of a level 1 trauma center in San Francisco found that the annual case volume of a referral hospital in Ghana is equivalent to a level 1 hospital in the U.S. (2,161 vs. 2,132), but in Ghana there were only 24 surgeons in the entire country compared to almost 24,000 in the U.S.[ii] The fact is that there are too few surgical providers and training programs to address the great demand in LMICs.

I asked myself why should this be, but more importantly, what could I do about it? As only one person out of 7 billion, was there anything meaningful I could truly do to make a difference?

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” - Margaret Mead

I’m proud to share that, one year later, we launched the West Africa Trauma Education Program, a collaborative effort between AO Alliance, Johnson & Johnson Corporate Citizenship Trust, and Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices EMEA to improve the quality of and access to fracture care in West Africa. The 3-year program will provide specialized education and training for up to 900 national and regional frontline health workers to deliver safe and timely access to surgical care for the injured in Nigeria, Ghana and Ivory Coast.  

Programs like this one demonstrate the role that MedTech companies can play to expand access to healthcare around the world. While the current business opportunity in LMICs may seem small to a big company like J&J, the long-term benefits are clear – improving access to care for the injured has been proven to be effective in saving lives, preventing disability and improving clinical outcomes. Approximately 83% of deaths from injuries occur in LMICs, resulting in an estimated $180 billion in lost productivity annually. By addressing inequalities in care of the injured in LMICs, we can reduce mortality by 15 to 20 percent, potentially saving more than 2 million lives each year and preventing the disability that can lead to poverty.[iii] The West Africa Trauma Education Program is a step towards achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and ensuring healthy lives for all, one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). 

For those of you who work for large corporations like me, here are some thoughts on how to drive a social impact platform within your company:

1.      Embrace “Intrapreneurship” – Think and act like an entrepreneur within your own company. If you have a great idea related to your core business that addresses an unmet need, put together a compelling business case and pitch it to key decision makers. You already know how to get resources internally to support your commercial business, so apply those skills to your social impact idea.

2.      Champion for Change – Every good idea needs a champion, why not you? If you’re passionate about a meaningful idea that will make a difference in people’s lives, you’d be surprised at how easy it is to find other like-minded souls who will offer to work on it with you in their “spare” time. Step up to lead, and others will follow.

3.      Be Willing to Change Direction – In the early stages of the program’s development, one of the initial ideas was to provide donations of medical supplies to hospitals locally. But after hitting several roadblocks with this approach, I stepped back to reassess whether this was really the right solution. By uncovering what the true need was (more training for frontline healthcare workers in LMICs), we were able to change direction to focus on capacity building through education of surgical healthcare workers, which then made it easier to link the program to our company’s existing commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

4.      Find Reliable Partners – Going it alone is never easy and tackling a problem as large as global surgery needs a collaborative approach to finding sustainable solutions. In working with organizations like AO Alliance that has existing relationships with doctors, hospitals and other NGOs in Africa and knows how to operate on the ground, you can accelerate your learning curve to start making an impact faster. Also look for potential partners within your own company. The J&J Corporate Citizenship Trust was already investing in people on the front lines of care and lent their considerable expertise, funding support and passion to bringing this program to life.

5.      Put Patients First – Our Credo at Johnson & Johnson starts with our responsibility to serve patients. For anyone who works in MedTech and healthcare, you understand that we go to work every day to make a difference in someone’s life. By keeping why we do what we do at the forefront of every conversation, you remind people about our collective purpose.

I welcome you to join me in continuing to innovate and to leverage our respective platforms and companies to create solutions for a healthier tomorrow, together.

Alissa Hsu Lynch is Vice President, Strategic Capabilities and Essential Surgery EMEA Lead for Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices

#mycompany #jnj #MTF2019 #healthforall #universalhealthcoverage #makeadifference #traumacare #globalsurgery #Africa #socialimpact #bigforgood #UnitedNations #SDGs #WHO

***************

[i] WHO Global Alliance for Care of the Injured

[ii] Global Surgery 2030: Evidence and Solutions for Achieving Health, Welfare, and Economic Development; The Lancet Commission on Global Surgery

[iii] Orthopedic surgery in the developing world: workforce and operative volumes in Ghana compared to those in the United States; World Journal of Surgery