Philips Steps Up Commitment to Ensuring Healthy Lives

Increasing pledge to support access to healthcare

Increasing pledge to support access to healthcare

In 2014, Philips pledged to support the United Nation’s Every Woman Every Child initiative committing to improve the lives of at least 100 million women and children in Africa and South East Asia by 2025.  This year, Philips is increasing that commitment to 300 million people in underserved markets, thereby recognizing the often-critical needs of women and children in many communities, but also the added burden arising from the increase in non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in communities already struggling without adequate access to healthcare.

Shaping healthcare causes with consumers

Increasing pledge to support access to healthcare

Yesterday, on Sunday, Philips sponsored the Social Good Summit in New York, where it launched in 15 countries its Better Me, Better World initiative. The platform provides consumers with personal benefits while giving them the opportunity to help prioritize the additional health and healthcare causes that Philips will support through the Philips Foundation in 2018.  Addressing health topics ranging from community access to healthcare, first aid training and ensuring healthy lifestyles for children are at the heart of the Philips Foundation’s mission to reduce health inequality through meaningful innovation. It does this by deploying the expertise, knowledge and innovative skills of Philips in collaborative projects with humanitarian organizations, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross to design, adopt and deploy solutions that are sustainable and inclusive.

Broadening expertise in primary healthcare solutions

Tomorrow, on Tuesday, Philips will host a high-level event gathering together the Rockefeller Foundation and Devex on the critical topic of Universal Health Coverage (UHC).  Achieving UHC means that all people everywhere will have access to quality essential health services without incurring financial risk.  Strong primary care facilities in the community are key to ensuring UHC, which is why in July, Philips in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Government of Mandera County, Kenya, opened a new Community Life Center (CLC) in Mandera County. The newly inaugurated CLC will provide the community with modern, high quality, integrated health services.

In addition to UN Week, Philips CEO Frans van Houten will deliver sponsored remarks at The Washington Post Live event, Transformers: Health on September 20th, from 4:00PM – 5:30PM at 1301 K St. NW, Washington, D.C.  Mr. van Houten will present on five key priorities healthcare industry leaders and providers must address to realize the full potential of digitization, connectivity and data, including breaking down barriers to better care and driving seamless connections in a digital world where the patient is at the center of care.  To register for the livestream, click here.

Increasing pledge to support access to healthcare

Increasing pledge to support access to healthcare

Royal Philips is reinforcing its commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by launching a series of global programs that enable and strengthen access to healthcare around the world. To achieve this impact Philips is teaming up with governments and NGOs, clinical customers, consumers and others.

In South East Asia, Philips launched the Mobile Obstetrics Monitoring (MOM) solution, aimed at reducing maternal mortality by enabling healthcare systems to give expectant mothers access to high-quality healthcare wherever they are.

The first full-scale implementation of this connected health solution was in the Sijunjung district of West Sumatra Province, Indonesia in January 2016 following a one-year pilot program. Earlier, during the pilot in Padang Indonesia, in collaboration with the Bunda Medical Center, MOM helped increase early detection of high-risk pregnancies by three fold. Furthermore, of the 650 pregnant women enrolled in the pilot, no fatalities from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth were encountered.

The MOM service features two mobile phone apps, as well as training and education. The first app allows midwives to collect vital measurement data such as weight, blood pressure and temperature, and sync it to the MOM web portal. The second app allows doctors to track data and review a woman’s pregnancy condition remotely. Specialists at regional primary care centers can also access the data via a MOM web portal to monitor women’s conditions and assess high-risk pregnancies via a dashboard interface. Recently in July 2017, three more healthcare centers in the provinces of Papua and North Sulawesi, Indonesia have implemented the MOM solution with a total 263 registered patients.