By Chris Powell, CEO
When I stepped into the CEO role at THINKMD in September 2021, a grace period of learning and listening was necessary.
Founded by physicians, this social impact company was born from Dr. Finette’s vision of a world where a lack of access to a doctor should never be a reason that anybody, especially children and mothers, suffer from preventable or treatable disease.
Because of this vision, THINKMD has attracted a committed and tight-knit team that has taken the company from an original concept to a respected rising star in the global digital health space. With creativity, passion and grit, this team has grown THINKMD’s footprint to 10 countries with an excellent roster of global health partners.
My role is to harness the passion and progress and focus our team into a stream-lined strategy that packs the biggest punch in the global health arena.
The last few months have been characterized by these learnings, and as we throw ourselves into 2022 with renewed vigor, our internal theme has become about doing what we came here to do. At THINKMD, we want to change the way that healthcare is delivered. For good. The status quo, where 810 women die every day from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth and one child in every 13 will not reach their fifth birthday in Africa, is not acceptable.
By 2030, we will be short 18 million frontline health workers, according to the World Health Organization. The time to innovate in healthcare is now, both in terms of digital health tools, but also how we leverage human resources. Community Health Workers, for example, have historically played a significant role in improving health outcomes and yet still go unpaid and unacknowledged in many parts of the world. Yet, if CHWs were utilized adequately on the frontlines of care, 3.6 million children’s lives could be saved each year.
It is for this reason that THINKMD moves forward with the goal to be in the hands of 50,000 frontline health workers – whether they are CHWs, pharmacists, midwives, doctors, nurses, school teachers or even parents – by 2026. All of these individuals are stepping up on the frontlines of primary healthcare to offer their families and their communities healthcare, and they deserve to be equipped with the tools to support quality decision-making. We want to bring clinical capacity to every role and we have the technology to do just that This work will be done one patient at a time, helping to create better health outcomes, vibrant families and stronger communities.
Imagine a world where THINKMD’s platform is in the hands of 50,000 frontline health workers – there will be 250 million quality health encounters occurring each year. This means a quarter of billion opportunities for better health decisions, timely and appropriate care and improved health outcomes. With the data gathered from each of these encounters – where over 200 diseases are screened for every time our software is used – the impact on population health would be unprecedented.
As CEO, the unique and sophisticated clinical intelligence behind THINKMD’s platform is both a challenge and an opportunity. We straddle many different worlds and have the potential to work in a variety of places and spaces. But what has become clear to me over the last six months is what sits at the root of THINKMD: The opportunity to positively impact health where there is the greatest need. It is for this reason that the frontlines of healthcare and those individuals who are serving their communities day after day, many without any formal recognition or even training, are our focus area. This is where the opportunity lies: utilizing our role to deeply understand the challenges and opportunities on the frontline of care and facilitate agency and connection along it.
We are ready to unleash THINKMD’s potential and amplify our impact in health. Because everyone should be able to access high quality healthcare, wherever they happen to be.
