What is SIHI?
SIHI which stands for Social Innovation in Health Initiative is an international network comprising partners across several countries with a joint interest in identifying social innovations as a bridge towards the attainment of Universal Health Coverage, particularly in resource-limited settings where challenges such as health inequalities and access abound. Established in 2014, the global network has expanded to include 13 Hubs (6 in Africa, 4 in Asia, 2 in Latin America and 1 in Europe) while advancing social innovation through advocacy, research and capacity development.
What is social innovation?
The social innovation process is a new lens that engages communities, government representatives, the private sector, and other actors within and outside the health system to solve a systemic health challenge, making health care effective, inclusive and affordable. Thus, social innovation is a people-centred approach.
Social innovations in health are inclusive solutions to address the healthcare delivery gap that meet the needs of end users through a multi-stakeholder, community-engaged process (Halpaap et al., 2020).
A video resource has been attached to expand on social innovations, their definitions and conceptual frameworks. More information can also be found here
Crowdsourcing Approach
To identify social innovations, SIHI Nigeria Hub meets with stakeholders to determine the focus of the crowdsourcing call and subsequently implements the approach described in the TDR “Crowdsourcing in Health and Health Research Practical Guide” to identify social innovations within the scope of the innovation call. To date, we have had two crowdsourcing calls in 2020 and 2021, received 36 social innovations and identified six outstanding social innovations in health.
A video resource has been attached to expand on crowdsourcing in health research.
Social Innovation in Health: Definitions and Conceptual Frameworks
By Jana Deborah Mier Alpano; Jose Rene Bagani Cruz
Crowdsourcing in Health and Health Research
By Allan Ulitin, Emmanuel Ahumuza