Health diplomacy through health entrepreneurship: using hackathons to address Palestinian-Israeli health concerns

Abstract

The universally shared values of improving health and well-being of populations make health a suitable diplomacy tool that transcends populations. The role of entrepreneurship in improving health and contributing to sustainable development is increasingly used in conjunction with traditional health diplomacy. In this paper, we present healthcare entrepreneurship as an effective health diplomacy tool that can spur economic growth, improve healthcare and generate sustainable development in communities. Improvements in health require involvement of diverse stakeholders including healthcare and non-health professionals to generate and implement sustainable problem-focused solutions. We illustrate the utility of early-stage innovation events, such as hackathons, in sparking entrepreneurship, interdisciplinary collaboration, ideation and innovation around problems specific to a local community. Specifically, we describe a hackathon organised in Nazareth, Israel as a means to bridge multicultural communities to address common health issues across the population. We suggest that health entrepreneurship is an important component of health diplomacy, and a critical ingredient for improved health, economic growth and sustainable development.

Exploration and Analysis on the Psychological Capital of Entrepreneurship and the Deviant Innovation Behavior of Employees

“…One believes that entrepreneurial opportunities exist independently of entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurs need to find out the entrepreneurial opportunities from the external environment. The other holds that entrepreneurial opportunities are closely related to entrepreneurs themselves; the acquisition of entrepreneurial opportunities is based on the perception and understanding of entrepreneurs (Ramadi et al, 2019). In this study, the entrepreneurial opportunity ability is defined as the search and perception of entrepreneurs on various information in the market, identifying the potential entrepreneurial opportunity in the market, and selecting the appropriate entrepreneurial method to start their business.…”

Brain health INnovation Diplomacy: a model binding diverse disciplines to manage the promise and perils of technological innovation

“…A recent review explored the role of health diplomacy through health entrepreneurship and using hackathons to address Palestinian-Israeli health concerns (Ramadi et al, 2019). Specifically, a hackathon was organized in Nazareth, Israel, supported in partnership by MIT's Hacking Medicine and Hasoub, a local nonprofit.…”

Surgathon: a new model for creating a surgical innovation ecosystem in low-resource settings

“…We propose a new conceptual model for global surgical innovation that aims to be comprehensive in its approach to community engagement, resource allocation and human investment. We have applied this conceptual model to health hackathons in low-resource settings that, over the past decade, have become a common tool for sparking excitement and inspiring solutions for challenges in healthcare 9–13. A ‘surgathon’ shares problem statements that are focused on local challenges in the delivery of surgery and anaesthesia to multidisciplinary participants.…”