At least 3.6 billion people, including a billion in remote rural communities, lack access to essential health services. Studies have shown that approximately one half of the population of the world lives in rural areas, yet less than 38% of nurses and less than 25% of physicians work in those regions. The urgency for last-mile healthcare initiatives is further escalated by the estimated shortage in healthcare workers of approximately 18 million by 2030. With countries around the world taking vital steps to provide universal health coverage, Health In Your Hands will play a part as a multi-stakeholder initiative in this global movement in achieving healthcare at the last mile.

An award-winning initiative of the SDGs in Action at The World Government Summit 2017, Mission & Co’s “Health In Your Hands” (HIYH) was conceptualised and chosen to address Sustainable Development Goal 3, i.e. Health and Wellbeing for all which includes the lack of accessibility and affordability of health services for marginalised communities. HIYH observes a holistic view of health, i.e. physical as well as mental health, consistent with the UN 2030 Agenda and the World Health Organization definition of health.

Health In Your Hands is a multi-stakeholder initiative dedicated to enabling the delivery of accessible health solutions to the last mile. HIYH serves as a platform which connects innovations to investors which will ultimately allow for the implementation and scaling of physical as well as mental healthcare innovations in remote settings. The goal of the initiative is to remove the barriers of knowledge and access that exist for frontline health service providers working at the last mile by connecting them to innovations that have been proven to be effective in similar settings and environments.

As part of the engagement model, cross-sector collaboration is key to building an initiative that is relevant and financially sustainable. Multiple stakeholders whose missions align with the stated purpose and deliverables, as well as countries where last mile healthcare services can help achieve sustainable development, are being engaged. Health In Your Hands contributes to the creation of an ecosystem where governments, as well as impact investors and funders, place health and well-being as a top priority.

Health In Your Hands aims to significantly contribute to achieving SDG 3 and interconnected SDGs by supporting health innovations and SDG-targeted interventions. The initiative will serve as platform which bridges the gap between the innovations and investors in order to scale the impact of these innovations in low resource settings. Lastly, HIYH-supported innovations are carefully selected by a team of experts to promote localisation by allowing countries to adapt and contextualise them to meet their local needs and cultural contexts.