Looking at the history of health innovation, we see that good ideas often come from people providing care every day in communities and clinics around the world. The ways in which front line health professionals, like nurses, midwives, caregivers and so many others, have pioneered a new idea or adapted an approach – and augmented health and wellness as a result – cannot be overlooked.
It was Marie-Anne Boivin, a French midwife, who invented the speculum used to assist childbirth. She also wrote multiple textbooks that became standard for midwifery students, and is cited as the first person to use a stethoscope to listen to the fetal heartbeat. And Mary Breckinridge, a nurse-midwife in the rural United States, saw the need for training and increased standards of care, and acted to create the Frontier Nursing Service. FNS went on to train hundreds of nurses and strengthened the concept and practice of nurse-midwifery in the United States.
These front line health pioneers saw a need, and based on their intimate knowledge of both community and care, they acted and created something new to meet local health needs. They innovated.
And there is much more that can – and must – happen to support and champion frontline health workers as they save even more lives.
The question is: what will it take to get there?
At Johnson & Johnson (J&J), we know the ingenuity required to change the trajectory of health for communities will not come from the boardroom; it will come from the patient exam room, the classroom, the clinic, or even a household. To change the realities of health, the world needs the insight, leadership, and creativity of everyday innovators on the front lines of care. In short, the world needs passionate people at the heart of care.
Last week, J&J proudly opened the GenH Challenge – a global social venture competition designed to seek out and incentivize novel, breakthrough solutions to persistent health challenges. The submission period is now open – and we are calling on healthcare workers and entrepreneurs, as front line changemakers, to share locally-tailored, globally- scalable ideas as together we seek to create the healthiest generation – “GenH.
So perhaps it’s time to ask yourself: what can I affect? What problems do I see, and what can I make better? If you’re starting to think of an idea, or even a seed of an idea, the GenH Challenge encourages you wholeheartedly to register, and to submit your application. Nobody else can see the world through your eyes, nobody else can speak up with your voice, and so your unique ideas really do matter.
We are excited to help provide the spark of investment you need to advance your vision of change. The GenH Challenge requires that all teams submitting ideas include a representative from the front lines of care. This specific prerequisite is because we fundamentally believe no sustainable change will be reached without the insight and knowledge individuals at the heart of care provide. Quite simply, you are why the GenH Challenge is placing its big bet on the power that lives on the front lines of care.
In our 130 years, we’ve learned that the next big idea can come from anyone. The GenH Challenge builds on a legacy of innovating and developing solutions for people on the front lines of care. With $1 million in prizes, winning teams will receive not only financial resources, but technical assistance from J&J to ensure that you, the changemakers, are able to turn ideas and vision into reality. We invite our fellow pioneers of ingenuity to apply their entrepreneurial spirit as the lever to achieve health equity.
