report
access.mobile
Access to Care That Crosses Borders Combining behavioral science and texting, access.mobile is revolutionizing the way that hospitals and clinics communicate with patients. By Jeremy Lehrer
A Access to medical care is a global problem—an issue that affects developed countries and developing countries alike. In nations ranging from India to the United States, Bolivia, Uganda and the Dominican Republic, there are millions of people who need health care expertise and treatment that they are not getting. In the US alone, a 2016 CDC report estimated that there were 28.6 million people who did not have health care coverage, a litmus of access to treatment for conditions chronic and acute. A World Health Organi-
zation report released in 2016 noted that there were 1.7 billion people who have tropical diseases for which they haven’t been treated. The same WHO publication cited a statistic about maternal health: “In 2015, the maternal mortality ratio (MMR)— the number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births—was estimated at 216 globally. Almost all of these deaths occurred in low-resource settings and could have been prevented.” For years now, Kaakpema Yelpaala has been working to ensure that the underserved are able to get care. “From a very young age, I had the belief that everybody has the right to have access to quality health care services,” he says. Yelpaala, who goes by the nickname “KP,” grew up in Sacramento; his parents were from Ghana, and many of his relatives still lived there during his childhood. As a young man, he saw family members in Ghana experiencing undue suffer77