The demand for global healthcare is enormous. The disparity in surgical care alone demonstrates the magnitude of the problem. According to the Lancet Commissions:
- 5 billion people do not have access to safe, affordable surgical and anesthesia care when needed.
- Access is worst in low- and low-middle income countries, where 9 out of 10 people cannot access basic surgical care.
- In the landscape of global surgery, only 6% of all surgeries happen in the poorest countries, where over 33% of the world’s population lives.
Yet, the global marketplace for delivery of targeted healthcare in resource-poor regions continues to present challenges.
That is to say, while human and capital resources to care for underserved populations have increased, these resources remain unevenly distributed. The people and institutions that wish to deliver healthcare—volunteers, nonprofits, governments, the private sector—lack ready access to the granular, local data necessary to identify those most in need. The Virtue Foundation Actionable Data seeks to address this information asymmetry and thereby reduce the frictions that lead to inefficient delivery of services or disengagement.
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VF Match: Matching Need & Resources in the Philanthropic Healthcare Space
VFMatch is an innovative technology platform that intelligently matches need and resources in the healthcare sector. Its primary goal is to reduce inefficiencies in the delivery of healthcare by matching the needs of underserved populations around the world with the resources of governments, non-profits, companies and individuals.
World Compendium of Healthcare Facilities and Nonprofit Organizations
Published by Taylor & Francis, World Compendium is the most comprehensive index of critical information on healthcare facilities and nonprofits in 72 low and lower-middle-income countries.
Origins and Evolution of the Actionable Data Initiative
The journey that has led to the Actionable Data Initiative began over two decades ago when a group of like-minded professionals came together to create the Virtue Foundation. Our idealism of wanting to serve those in need in resource-poor regions around the world was soon to be confronted with the challenging reality of making these interventions effective, ethical, and lasting. It was not long before we began questioning the long-term value of discrete missions and their potential harm on the communities they were intended to serve.
Collaborating with a group of academics and professionals in fields ranging from healthcare and economics to data science and analytics, we thus sought ways to help optimize our interventions and engagements around the globe. To our great surprise, we found a dearth of practical resources to provide satisfactory answers to our questions. The search for solutions led us on a decade-long journey, beginning with data mapping projects and culminating in the adoption of machine learning and artificial intelligence as a means to better define need and intervention opportunities worldwide.
Publication of World Compendium of Healthcare Facilities and Nonprofit Organizations
World Compendium was born out of Virtue Foundation’s considerable experience providing direct healthcare in resource-poor regions. For nearly 20 years, Virtue Foundation volunteers, working in collaboration with local healthcare professionals, have been providing surgical and medical services worldwide. During this time, much has been learned about the necessity for access to reliable targeted data as a means to provide efficient healthcare delivery.
Among the most comprehensive resources of its kind, World Compendium presents a curated directory of nonprofits, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), hospitals, and healthcare facilities in 72 low and lower-middle-income countries as classified by the World Bank. Access to such data highlights areas that are underserved or in need of additional assistance. The content is listed by country and enhanced with custom maps and country overviews.
Each chapter contains an alphabetical list of healthcare facilities operating in the corresponding country, followed by a list of nonprofit organizations. There is also a QR code that can be scanned by a phone or tablet, which links back to a platform that holds more detailed information on both healthcare facilities and nonprofit organizations.
In addition to the chapter QR codes, each listing includes a short URL, which will reveal additional details about that nonprofit organization or healthcare facility. This includes useful information about a hospital, such as on-site medical services, capabilities and healthcare services provided.
This compendium represents one of the first products of the Actionable Data Initiative and provides perhaps the world’s most comprehensive compilation of healthcare facilities and nonprofits in low and lower-middle-income countries. The first volume of this compendium— Insights in Global Health—was published by Taylor & Francis and included 24 low-income countries as defined by the World Bank.
This compendium offers a fresh perspective on global health interventions. Philanthropic interventions need not conform to an all-or-nothing model whereby they are considered either ineffective short-term neocolonial voluntourism, or complex, bureaucratic and inefficient undertakings marked by inertia and inflexibility. By making data accessible, the information age promises customizable and targeted matching of needs and resources at the individual and organizational levels, thereby reducing the inefficiencies that have historically plagued international healthcare philanthropy.
VF Match
Matching Need & Resources in the Philanthropic Healthcare Space
VFMatch.org is an innovative technology platform that intelligently matches need and resources in the healthcare sector. Its primary goal is to reduce inefficiencies in the delivery of healthcare by matching the needs of underserved populations around the world with the resources of governments, non-profits, companies and individuals.
VFMatch includes a cutting-edge 3D interactive map designed to empower healthcare volunteers by helping them identify and locate volunteering opportunities where their skills are needed the most. This map offers a mobile-friendly, immersive experience, enabling volunteers to explore various regions in three dimensions and make informed decisions based on critical healthcare parameters. The map highlights regions classified as medical deserts, where healthcare facilities and services are scarce. Volunteers can easily identify these underserved areas and prioritize them for their efforts. This feature allows users to filter regions based on hospital accessibility, showcasing areas with limited or no access to hospitals. Volunteers can target locations where their presence can significantly impact community health. Additionally, volunteers can view and filter regions based on physician density. Areas with low physician-to-patient ratios are marked, enabling healthcare professionals to offer their services where there is a critical shortage of medical staff.
The interactive elements of the map include dynamic filtering, allowing users to apply multiple filters simultaneously to pinpoint areas that meet specific criteria. This dynamic filtering system ensures that volunteers can tailor their search to match their expertise and the most pressing community needs. The 3D interactive map allows users to zoom in and out and pan across different regions effortlessly, providing a comprehensive view of global, national, and local healthcare landscapes.
Overall, VFMatch.org is a powerful resource for healthcare professionals seeking to make a meaningful impact. By leveraging advanced technology and real-time data, the map and search capabilities of this tool enable volunteers to strategically deploy their skills where they are most needed. This targeted approach ultimately contributes to better health outcomes in underserved communities.
Related
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Virtue Foundation’s Actionable Data Initiative Featured in the Financial Times
The Financial Times featured Dr. Joan LaRovere’s application of her MIT Sloan Executive MBA to enhance the VFMatch platform, a key component of the Actionable Data Initiative, which connects physicians to underserved areas by addressing critical healthcare needs.
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Virtue Foundation Presents at the 2024 Global Ophthalmology Summit
In August 2024, the Virtue Foundation shared findings from the Actionable Data Initiative at the Global Ophthalmology Summit, highlighting healthcare access gaps in Ghana and Mongolia. VFMatch offers maps for 72 low- and middle-income countries, identifying medical deserts across specialties.
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Virtue Foundation Presents at Data + AI Summit in San Francisco
Virtue Foundation at the 2024 Data + AI Summit highlights how the Actionable Data Initiative leverages AI and data analysis to address healthcare disparities in low- and middle-income countries, identifying underserved areas and driving global change through innovative partnerships.
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Virtue Foundation Participates in MIT/ Forbes AI Summit
In April 2024, Virtue Foundation joined the “Forging the Future of Business with AI” summit, where Dr. Joan LaRovere presented the Actionable Data Initiative, showcasing its use of AI to map healthcare facilities, identify medical deserts, and uncover insights to guide future medical and surgical missions in underserved regions.
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Virtue Foundation Presents Its Actionable Data Initiative at the 2023 Spatial Data Science Conference
Dr. Joan LaRovere presented Virtue Foundation’s health data insights at the 2023 Spatial Data Science Conference, discussing big data’s transformative role in healthcare.
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Virtue Foundation at the Harvard Business School NextGen Healthcare Conference
The Virtue Foundation’s Actionable Data Initiative continues to grow and expand, drawing more interest from the global health community.
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Recently Published World Compendium of Healthcare Facilities and Nonprofit Organizations
Introducing World Compendium, the most comprehensive index of critical information on healthcare facilities and nonprofits in 72 low and lower-middle-income countries. Edited by Dr. Ebby Elahi and published by Taylor & Francis, the compendium allows stakeholders to better identify where healthcare services are available and where additional resources are needed.
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Virtue Foundation at the DataRobot AI Conference
Virtue Foundation’s groundbreaking Data Mapping Initiative is a first-of-its-kind mapping-and- matching global health platform—and it wouldn’t have been possible without the help of AI tech company DataRobot and its AI for Good program. VF co-founder Dr. Joan LaRovere spoke at DataRobot’s AI Experience World virtual Conference in May 2021.
