[LINK] Anti-Diarrhea Kits and the Supply Chain

post by NancyLebovitz · 2013-09-28T09:08:13.106Z · LW · GW · Legacy · 0 comments

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/03/making-medicine-as-easy-to-get-as-a-can-of-coke/

Diarrhea is a pervasive and deadly problem for children in poor countries. ORS (oral rehydration salts) are an effective safe cure, but clinics are sparsely distributed and frequently out of stock.

The time/cost of getting to a clinic is high, and the wait puts a sick child at further risk.

Small stores are much more pervasive.

So Simon and Jane Berry and local partners invented an ORS kit that would fit into Coke crates between the bottles.

However, while putting the kits into Coke crates is a cool idea which helped attract funding, they found it worked better to build relationships with distributors and shopkeepers-- the people who were bringing goods that last mile towards the consumer.

The Simons are still at the stage of experimenting with prices (I just heard about the project from the BBC)-- the kits were originally free, but ideally they'd cost enough to be self-sustaining.

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