Harvard i-lab | 2013 Deans' Health & Life Sciences Challenge -- BroadLeaf | Summary and Q&A

TL;DR

Broadleaf Health and Education Alliance is a nonprofit startup aiming to improve children's health and education in the rural eastern Himalayas by implementing a school-based system of mental health care.

Key Insights

• 🙈 Quality healthcare has no geographic boundaries, as seen in Broadleaf's impact in the rural eastern Himalayas.
• 🧑‍⚕️ Mental health is a crucial global health challenge, particularly for children, with a treatment gap of up to 100 percent in remote and rural communities.
• 🧑‍⚕️ Broadleaf utilizes task-sharing to address the shortage of health professionals, empowering community health workers to deliver comprehensive mental health care.
• 😤 Broadleaf's team combines high-level technical innovation with a deep understanding of the communities they serve.
• 💪 The organization has strong relationships with stakeholders and substantial support for their work.
• 🧑‍⚕️ Broadleaf's school-based system of mental health care is scalable and can be integrated into existing school health programs.
• 👍 An investment of $60,000 over five years is needed to pilot and prove the intervention's effectiveness.

Transcript

hi i'm michael maturja executive director of broadleaf health and education alliance broadleaf is a startup nonprofit that uses innovative approaches to school-based healthcare to improve the lives of children in the rural eastern himalayas our aspiration is to create a world-class development organization tackling tough problems in a neglected reg... Read More

Questions & Answers

Q: What is Broadleaf's approach to improving the lives of children in the rural eastern Himalayas?

Broadleaf uses community health workers to deliver health and hygiene education and basic primary health services in primary schools, with a focus on addressing the mental health treatment gap.

Q: How is mental health a global health challenge, particularly for children?

Globally, 10 to 20 percent of children suffer from a diagnosable mental health condition, but tragically, 90 percent of these children receive no specialist care. This treatment gap is even more pronounced in remote and rural communities like the eastern Himalayas.

Q: How does Broadleaf plan to address the shortage of health professionals in the region?

Broadleaf believes in task-sharing, shifting responsibilities from professional providers to lay community health workers. This strategy has already been successful in enhancing care for people with HIV and for mothers and newborns.

Q: What is Broadleaf's vision for scaling their mental health care program?

Broadleaf envisions having 10 community health workers caring for 1,000 children by 2017. They believe their approach can be readily transported and replicated across the eastern Himalayas.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Broadleaf is a nonprofit startup that uses innovative approaches to improve the lives of children in the rural eastern Himalayas.

• They have implemented a next-generation model for school health, utilizing community health workers to deliver health and hygiene education and basic primary health services.

• Broadleaf aims to address the neglected field of child mental health in the region through a school-based system of mental health care delivered by community health workers.