Frugal innovation can drive big change for health

The American Heart Association held its annual convention in Los Angeles earlier this month. Professor Stephen MacMahon, Principal Director of The George Institute for Global Health, was the guest speaker for the Lewis A. Conner Memorial Lecture. He discussed the concept of Frugal Innovation - the Future of Cardiovascular Medicine.

Professor MacMahon's focus was 21st century cardiovascular medicine's single largest challenge - how to provide basic cardiovascular care for seven billion people on our planet.

"Five billion people currently have no reliable access to essential, preventive and therapeutic care, so the only way to provide care is through radical change to our healthcare system," he told the convention.

"The human and financial cost of this healthcare challenge is profound and the magnitude of this issue is even more sobering when we know that three billion people alive today will develop serious cardiovascular disease.

"If we are to avert this carnage we need big change to world healthcare."