As countries fight the coronavirus outbreak, we step back to examine healthcare innovation around the world. Plus, what climate risk means for mining-industry operations, and how McKinsey is helping literacy efforts for India’s children. |
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Healthcare, always a hot-button issue, looms large right now as China and other nations battle to control the deadly coronavirus. |
While the tragic loss of life illustrates the myriad challenges to China’s healthcare system, there is reason to be optimistic that the nation’s long-term strategy, Healthy China 2030, will improve outcomes for the Chinese population. Progress has already been made, with life expectancy for Chinese women and men improving from 68 to 77 over the past 30 years. |
By 2030, the Chinese government hopes to create a broader healthcare ecosystem by strengthening preventative care, optimizing healthcare management and services, and taking care of key segments of the population, such as women and children. |
It’s also worth looking at healthcare across the globe to see what lessons can be learned. Nigeria is a good place to start. Its novel approach to disease control helped it eradicate polio. And then there’s Japan. Known for its high-quality healthcare, the country has been contending with an aging population and an accelerated pipeline of new medical products. Both are putting strains on its health system, but innovative companies are meeting the challenge. |
In the United States, healthcare-industry leaders are rethinking the whole concept of how to provide care. Smart hospitals make extensive use of innovative technologies to improve care quality and patient experience while reducing costs. Imagine a hospital stay that features a digitally customized room with decor based on families’ personal preferences (soothing pastel walls, maybe an ocean mural). Some believe that could be the norm by 2030. |
Advances are not limited to hospitals either. We talked to the CEO of a regional health network who foresees more care being delivered outside the hospital—in clinics and even in patients’ homes. |
And don’t forget innovation in precision medicine, which tailors treatments and products to individual patients. In Denmark, an ambitious plan to conduct a genomic mapping of the population is on the cutting edge of the precision-medicine push, helping the country provide smarter, more targeted care. |
Yet with all this progress, getting health systems to embrace digitization, which has the potential to transform healthcare—from diagnosis to data administration—has been an uphill battle, mostly because the cultural change required has not been an easy pill to swallow. This is why McKinsey conducted a high-level review of the health systems of more than 30 countries to see what lessons could be learned. |
With so much going on in one industry, a savvy exec might think healthcare is a smart business investment. And she’d be right, according to New Mountain Capital’s president of private equity, Matt Holt, who thinks healthcare, particularly healthcare tech, has a lot to offer investors. |
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OFF THE CHARTS |
Mining and climate risk: What CEOs need to know |
Mining is no stranger to harsh climates: much of the industry already operates in inhospitable conditions. But forecasts of hazards, such as heavy precipitation, drought, and heat, indicate these effects will get more frequent and intense, increasing the physical challenges to mining operations. By 2040, key mining regions could be increasingly vulnerable to water stress, affecting the production of copper, gold, and other metals. |
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INTERVIEW |
Humans and machines, working in harmony |
“We don’t really want intelligent machines, in the sense of machines that pursue objectives [of their own]. What we want are machines that are beneficial to us.” That’s the take of Stuart Russell, a leading artificial-intelligence (AI) researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control. |
In a recent conversation with James Manyika of the McKinsey Global Institute, Russell emphasized that when it comes to the future of AI, we need to shift the focus away from writing algorithms that find solutions for a fixed objective, because the machine won’t stop until it reaches that goal. We want machines that “understand” they are working for the benefit of humans, Russell says, and that are “happy” to be switched off, if need be. |
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MORE ON MCKINSEY.COM |
Same-day delivery is ready for takeoff | Now that customers expect faster delivery times, incumbent omnichannel retailers with dense store networks—and quick access to customers—suddenly have a competitive advantage. Here’s how they can switch gears in four areas. |
Technology reflections from Davos 2020 | From AI, 5G, and reskilling to social responsibility and climate change—the opportunities and challenges of new technology were front and center at Davos. |
Sustainability in packaging | Regulatory and public concerns about single-use waste are driving major changes in consumer packaging. Packaging converters will have to address sustainability issues as these pressures grow. |
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WHAT WE’RE DOING |
Helping close the literacy gap in India |
India has made significant progress in improving educational opportunities for children, but substantial gaps in literacy remain. Without basic reading and writing skills, India’s young people face shut doors when it comes to their education and future employment. |
Pratham, a large nongovernmental organization offering literacy and vocational-skill support for children, is dedicated to opening those doors. It boasts a national network that reaches 58 million young people, with literacy and vocational services in 23 Indian states. |
After conducting a strategic review for the organization in 2004, McKinsey once again partnered with Pratham in 2018 to develop a five-year strategic plan to maximize the organization’s impact and resources. |
“This was a 25-year-old organization, one of the most successful of its kind,” says Ketav Mehta, a McKinsey engagement manager who helped lead the project. “Our job was to help them focus on very specific strategic questions because even though school enrollment in India was very high, there were still big gaps in literacy rates.” |
As a result of the strategic-planning work, Pratham chose to focus on strengthening its government partnerships and its village-based approach, where educational services previously scattered across multiple locations now focus on individual villages, helping children from grades one to ten. While the plan is still too new to yield impact numbers (the children’s progress is being measured on a multiyear basis), it has already been implemented in almost 3,000 villages so far. Stay tuned. |
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BACKTALK |
Have feedback or other ideas? We’d love to hear from you. |
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