20 February 2019

Philips

2017

Building on their original 2015 commitment in support of the EWEC Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health, Philips commits to improve the lives of 300 million people in underserved countries that suffer the highest maternal, neonatal and child, and NCD mortality rates from 2017 till 2025.

They will achieve this by:

Access to quality primary care; Philips continues to invest in its Community Life Center (CLC) and related portfolio of medical devices for low resources settings to strengthen primary care as the most effective way to achieve Universal Health Coverage. The CLC platform bundles technology with an integrated service package, community empowerment interventions, and a referral to higher levels of care. Relevant devices include the automated respiration monitors that supports the diagnosis of pneumonia in children under 5, ultrasound, and patient monitoring. In addition, they will provide services and solutions that help identify high risk pregnancies, support breastfeeding, and improve early detection and prevention of NCDs. They will support country-led primary care transformations through partnerships such as the Kenya SDG platform, the WEF Primary Care Coalition, and the EWEC architecture. Women and children represent approximately 70% of the demand for primary care services.
Digital transformation of healthcare; Philips continues to invest in connected care, data analytics and population health management across all levels of care. They will build on the partnership with GAVI to develop Health IT solutions to digitize the last mile of immunization for women and children. Furthermore, they will continue to work on digital health solutions for low resource settings such as Mobile Obstetric Monitoring, Electronic Medical Record systems, and healthy living Apps such as uGrow.
Large scale health system strengthening; Philips will continue to deliver large scale hospital revitalization programs through innovative financing solutions such as Managed Equipment Services, building on experience in Kenya, India, Indonesia, etc. These programs benefit all people and improve access to quality of care that respond to all current and future healthcare needs, with an emphasis on addressing the rising NCD burden.

Commitment Progress

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. At the United Nations General Assembly week in September 2017, Philips made an extended commitment to improve the lives of 300 million people in underserved healthcare communities by 2025. Philips thereby recognized 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. To monitor our progress on the extended commitment, we use the same Lives Improved methodology and in 2017 we improved the lives of 153 million people in underserved markets (an increase of 16 million compared to 2016).

They will achieve this by:
1) Access to quality primary care; Philips continues to invest in its Community Life Center (CLC) and related portfolio of medical devices for low resources settings to strengthen primary care as the most effective way to achieve Universal Health Coverage. The CLC platform bundles technology with an integrated service package, community empowerment interventions, and a referral to higher levels of care. Relevant devices include the automated respiration monitors that supports the diagnosis of pneumonia in children under 5, ultrasound, and patient monitoring. In addition, they will provide services and solutions that help identify high risk pregnancies, support breastfeeding, and improve early detection and prevention of NCDs. They will support country-led primary care transformations through partnerships such as the Kenya SDG platform, the WEF Primary Care Coalition, and the EWEC architecture. Women and children represent approximately 70% of the demand for primary care services.
2) Digital transformation of healthcare; Philips continues to invest in connected care, data analytics and population health management across all levels of care. They will build on the partnership with GAVI to develop Health IT solutions to digitize the last mile of immunization for women and children. Furthermore, they will continue to work on digital health solutions for low resource settings such as Mobile Obstetric Monitoring, Electronic Medical Record systems, and healthy living Apps such as uGrow.
3) Large scale health system strengthening; Philips will continue to deliver large scale hospital revitalization programs through innovative financing solutions such as Managed Equipment Services, building on experience in Kenya, India, Indonesia, etc. These programs benefit all people and improve access to quality of care that respond to all current and future healthcare needs, with an emphasis on addressing the rising NCD burden.

2015

We will develop the next-generation of care for mothers and their children that strengthen local health care infrastructure and can track the health and well-being of mother and baby, from conception through pregnancy and labor & delivery to post-natal care.

Secondly, we will enable healthier, safer living through solutions such as clean cooking stoves, automated respiration monitors that support the diagnosis of pneumonia in children under 5, solar lighting, e- and m-Health solutions, and solar community life centers that provide lighting and electricity to improve access to care. The Philips Foundation will drive for partnerships which will focus collectively on improving the health of infants in their first 1000 days of life.

Thirdly, we will promote healthy and nutritious diets for mothers and children, by researching the barriers to breastfeeding, acknowledging that working women need special support to continue breastfeeding, including access to pumps. We will provide education on breastfeeding and drive advocacy for the improvement of breastfeeding facilities in the workplace.

Commitment Progress

Philips used the “lives improved” methodology to calculate how we improved the lives of women, children and adolescents in Africa and South East Asia. We are proud to report that we have improved the lives of 33.5 million women, children, and adolescents in 2016, mainly through our deployment of ultrasound, patient monitoring, breastfeeding, and training programs.

In 2017, UNFPA and Philips jointly opened a new Community Life Center in Mandera county Kenya. This aims to strengthen primary health care for the local community and address the issue of maternal mortality which in Mandera is the highest rate in Kenya.

For more info:

Link to press release.
Link to short film.