Pharmacy on a Bicycle

2 Ideas in Action: Innovation and Entrepreneurship

In much of Africa, Asia, and Latin America, there are few health workers, pharmacies, or clinics, particularly in rural areas, making it difficult to deliver inexpensive, high-quality health care to those most in need. When people in these regions get sick, they often get little care or no care at all.

People with the least access to the formal care system typically rely on informal health care, such as folk remedies from family, friends, or traditional healers, which may be ineffective. Others may travel by foot or even be pushed in a wheelbarrow many miles to seek health care in a larger village. Many who do eventually receive skilled medical attention arrive too late to be saved. Too often, ...