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Episode details

World Service,02 Jun 2018,49 mins

SeriesScience and Society

Building Better Healthcare

The Evidence

Available for over a year

Healthcare is not only a human right but key to sustainable societies. If you could build a healthcare system from scratch, how would you design it? We hear from Dr Bailor Barrie who grew up in poverty in Sierra Leone, survived war and near death to fulfil his dream to become a doctor only to discover if you didn’t have money you couldn’t afford health care. Travelling to one of the areas most devastated by the war he co-founded the Wellbody Alliance and has transformed health care in the Kono district. Claudia asks about his experience of setting up clinics in Sierra Leone in the aftermath of war and natural disasters such as Ebola. Associate Professor Dina Balabanova from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine surveys the countries in the world with surprisingly effective health services, emphasising that it’s not how much money you spend, but how you spend it and innovation is everything. Nayanabhiram Kalnad explains how digital healthcare is making medicine more equitable and from his company’s experience how doctors manage ever increasing demands in India. Picture: Medical symbol, Credit: Getty Images

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