Innovation Working Group has appointed the Global Healthcare Innovation &Policy expert Rajendra Pratap Gupta as Co-Chair for Asia .
Rajendra is internationally recognized as an innovator in healthcare and public policy, having served in top leadership positions with many of the world's largest companies. His work has influenced local, national and international healthcare policy. Rajendra also been invited by government bodies in India, including the Ministry of Health, Planning Commission as well as international organizations such as the United Nations, World Health Organization (WHO), International Telecommunications Union (ITU ) and the World Economic Forum, where he serves on the Forum's Global Agenda Council on Digital Health and on the expert panel of the US-India Science and Technology Endowment Fund.
Innovation Working Group was created in 2010 by the UNSG ( United Nation's Secretary General ) to harness the power of innovations to accelerate progress towards achieving the health MDGs in support of the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health.
IWG Asia will serve as a regional hub for innovation, catalyzing the initiation and enabling the scaling of cost-effective innovations across technological, social, financial, policy and business domains
During the November 2012 high-level meeting on RMNCH in Manila, a stakeholder consultation was held. There was overwhelming support towards launching an ‘Innovation Working Group – Asia’ (aIWG) that is closely aligned and is affiliated to the global IWG
Considering the formidable challenges faced bythe healthcare systems in Asia related to Women and Child health , it is imperative that all the stake holders work on a platform to catalyze regional innovation to address this ‘mass challenge’ that will directly impact the Asian populations and the economy. ‘Innovation Working Group’, is the platform created in 2010 to tap into the potential of innovations that can accelerate progress towards the health MDGs, in support of the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health.
Asia is a highly dynamic region. A growing technology sector, substantial financial resources of fast developing Asian economies and the rising interest and participation of the private sector in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) within the region is evident in the recent decade. The aim of the aIWG is to tap into this dynamism to engage and leverage innovations for women’s and children’s health in the Asia region and globally. The large numbers of women and children in Asia alone makes a case for huge innovation impact potential. With rapidly emerging and fast growing business sector, as well as in terms of absolute numbers of women and children to reach to achieve MDGs 4, 5, and 6; Asia is a region with great potential within the context of EWEC( Every Women. Every Child ). To date, however, the IWG has mainly engaged European and North American together with few African stakeholders. Engaging Asian private sector, academic, NGO, and government actors will bring considerable value, not only to the IWG work, but also to the region, and to EWECinitiative at large
In December 2012, the global IWG took the decision of launching IWG in Asia in 2013.
"I am excited to bring the resources, integrity and experience of Innovation Working Group to Public sector, NGO’s .healthcare providers and government agencies in Asia, and look forward to working in collaboration with these great organizations," added Rajendra P. Gupta, Co-Chair, Innovation Working –Asia. "Together we will help to build a hub of innovation in Asia to advance the MDGs related to mother and child health”
"We welcome corporates , NGO’s , government agencies and healthcare providers in the Asia regionto join the Innovation Working Group, and take advantage of the vast experience, networking and expertise we have to offer. I personally look forward to creating strong collaboration and partnerships to advance the innovations in the region ," added Gupta.
About Innovation Working Group
. For more information visit: http://www.who.int/pmnch/activities/jointactionplan/jap_innovationswg/en/
