Infosys, a global leader in consulting and technology, today announced that it has made a commitment to work with the MDG Health Alliance, the United Nations Foundation, and the Clinton Health Access Initiative as an Innovation Partner for the India Public-Private Partnership to End Child Diarrheal Deaths, in support of the United Nations Secretary-General's Every Woman Every Child movement. Under this program Infosys Labs, the research and innovation arm of Infosys, will institute an Innovation Co-creation Lab to explore ways that technology can be used to solve critical maternal and child health challenges.
Every Woman Every Child is an unprecedented global movement spearheaded by the UN Secretary-General to mobilize and intensify global action to improve the health of women and children. In India, the effort is supported by the India Public‐Private Partnership to End Child Diarrheal Deaths, with a vision to prevent deaths of more than 200,000 children under five years of age every year. This partnership will mobilize public and private sector stakeholders to achieve universal coverage of children in India through the intervention of oral rehydration solution (ORS) and zinc by 2015, thereby playing a critical role in preventing diarrheal deaths.
As Innovation Partner for the India Public-Private Partnership to End Child Diarrheal Deaths, Infosys is collaborating with the MDG Health Alliance, United Nations Foundation and the Clinton Health Access Initiative. The Innovation Co-creation Lab created by Infosys will facilitate the convergence of the initiative's task force members onto a common forum offering tools, platforms, frameworks and processes to organize, manage and assist the co-creational interactions specific to this partnership.
Kathy Calvin, CEO, UN Foundation said, "I commend Infosys on stepping up their commitment to women and children's health by applying their unique strengths to help solve one ofIndia's biggest health challenges."
Subu Goparaju, Senior Vice President and Head-Infosys Labs commented, "The India Public-Private Partnership has the potential to make a significant impact and reduce child deaths caused by diarrhea in India. Technology can play a significant role in enabling and enhancing collaboration between various stakeholders involved in this initiative and contributes towards developing affordable healthcare solutions. Infosys is committed to this cause and will provide a platform to drive joint innovation to develop affordable healthcare solutions for this initiative."
Ray Chambers, UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Malaria and Chair, MDG Health Alliance, said, "We will not achieve our global goals for maternal and child health without making significant progress in India, where the greatest numbers of women die in childbirth and the greatest numbers of children die before reaching their fifth birthday."
He further added, "We specifically welcome the commitment of Infosys to help us win the fight against diarrhea, one of the leading killers of children in India and we look forward to harnessing the extraordinary skills, talent and creativity of one of India's leading companies to help us scale up the interventions (oral rehydration products and zinc) that could prevent 90% of child diarrheal deaths."
Infosys Labs, the research and innovation arm of Infosys drives research across the Building Tomorrow's Enterprise mega trends that have the potential to transform client business. Healthcare economy is one of these mega trends which impacts both consumers as well enterprises. One of Infosys Labs' focus areas is addressing the challenge of delivering affordable, preventive and patient centric healthcare.
PR Newswire