Suchergebnisse

A growing number of organizations have launched social entrepreneurship competitions to help students develop the knowledge and skills to create sustainable solutions to the intertwined challenges of health and development. We conducted a program evaluation of the first 9 years of the Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition (GSEC) at the University of Washington to assess the outcome of participation. Method: We sent an e-mail survey to all GSEC participant finalists from 2005 to 2013. Responses to closed-ended questions were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and responses to open-ended questions were analyzed for major themes. Results: Of the 111 finalist teams, 46% responded to the survey. Motivations for participating included prestige (77%), networking (62%), and mentoring (49%). Of respondents, 76.4% indicated their teams were interdisciplinary, having backgrounds in business (78%), engineering (39%), and health sciences (22%). Of the 19 teams awarded a prize, 12 subsequently launched their businesses. Most respondents (81.4%) felt GSEC helped them become better global social entrepreneurs. Conclusion: Evaluation results suggest that networking and mentoring are key benefits of participation, and that more could be done to increase health sciences students' involvement. Further research is necessary to explore the global impact and social return on investment of these competitions.

An epidemic of Ebola virus disease (EVD) beginning in 2013 has claimed an estimated 11 310 lives in West Africa. As the EVD epidemic subsides, it is important for all who participated in the emergency Ebola response to reflect on strengths and weaknesses of the response. Such reflections should take into account perspectives not usually included in peer-reviewed publications and after-action reports, including those from the public sector, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), survivors of Ebola, and Ebola-affected households and communities. In this article, we first describe how the international NGO Partners In Health (PIH) partnered with the Government of Sierra Leone and Wellbody Alliance (a local NGO) to respond to the EVD epidemic in 4 of the country's most Ebola-affected districts. We then describe how, in the aftermath of the epidemic, PIH is partnering with the public sector to strengthen the health system and resume delivery of regular health services. PIH's experience in Sierra Leone is one of multiple partnerships with different stakeholders. It is also one of rapid deployment of expatriate clinicians and logistics personnel in health facilities largely deprived of health professionals, medical supplies, and physical infrastructure required to deliver health services effectively and safely. Lessons learned by PIH and its partners in Sierra Leone can contribute to the ongoing discussion within the international community on how to ensure emergency preparedness and build resilient health systems in settings without either.