Decolonizing Healthcare Innovation

This fascinating book offers a pathway for the NHS to adopt low-cost but effective innovations from areas of the world traditionally seen as beneficiaries rather than providers of help and support. In an era of increasing demand and dwindling resources, and where the COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated the structural limitations of the current system, the book provides examples of simple, frugal but high-quality alternatives to current practice. From orthopaedics to paediatrics, and mental health to plastic surgery, the book illustrates how low- and middle-income countries have found solutions to healthcare issues that are not only safe and clinically effective but also have the potential to save the NHS millions of pounds. Grounded in the contemporary debates of decolonization, it invites readers to question the culture and systems in global health that view low-income countries as solely passive recipients of aid. The volume will be essential reading for students and scholars across Public Health, Global Health, and Development Studies, as well as healthcare managers and policy makers in the UK and beyond.

Matthew Harris is a Clinical Senior Lecturer in Public Health Medicine, Honorary Consultant in Public Health Medicine, Director of Postgraduate Taught Courses in the School of Public Health, Imperial College London, and Theme Lead for Innovation and Evaluation in the NIHR Northwest London Applied Research Collaborative, UK. He has lived and worked in Brazil as a family doctor, in Ethiopia working for the WHO in immunization programmes, and in Mozambique as an HIV Technical Advisor, and served for two years as a Global Health Policy advisor to the UK government.

1. The Unwritten Rulebook of Global Health, 2. UK Healthcare is Too Expensive, Frugal Innovation is the Answer, 3. Core and Peripheral Knowledge in Global Health, 4. False Dichotomies in Global Health: Us vs Them, 5. Coloniality in Global Health, 6. Reverse Innovation as a Decolonial Strategy, 7. Decolonizing Higher Education Curricula, 8. Decolonization, Decoloniality and Racialised Organizations: Praxis and Reflections, 9. A Structured Approach to Critical Analysis of Frugal Innovations from Low-Income Countries, 10. Mosquito Net Mesh for Hernia Repair, 11. Sayeba's Method for Post-Partum Haemorrhage, 12. Phase Change Material for Neonatal Therapeutic Hypothermia, 13. Arbutus Drill System for Orthopaedic Surgery, 14. Tilapia Fish Skin for Severe Burns, 15. Ponseti Technique for Congenital Club Feet Correction, 16. Conclusion and Next Steps