Healthpoint Services Announces Innovative Learning Partnership With Procter & Gamble

CINCINNATI, Nov. 9, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Healthpoint Services Global, Inc. today announces at the 2010 m-Health Summit in Washington, DC an innovative learning partnership with The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE: PG), aimed at advancing a scalable, self-sustaining model for delivery of water, healthcare, and other benefits to underserved rural communities in developing countries. The effort targets the millions of people who currently lack reliable access to safe drinking water and legitimate healthcare services. The "healthpoint" model, created and piloted by Healthpoint Services, combines four essential services in each rural clinic:

• Safe drinking water, produced on-site daily;
• Access to qualified doctors via telemedicine, supported by two-way video and electronic medical records;
• Advanced on-site diagnostic capability (over 80 tests), enabling evidence-based healthcare;
• High-quality medicines via an on-site licensed pharmacy.

Each modern Healthpoint facility, owned and operated by Healthpoint Services, provides an oasis of high-quality, affordable services for rural communities. In addition, the company deploys village health workers equipped with mobile phones that go door-to-door, providing consumer education, patient follow-up, and last-mile service delivery to extend the reach of the Healthpoint village team.  In this innovative learning partnership, P&G FutureWorks will work closely with Healthpoint Services, providing financial support, experienced people, and in-kind services.  The objective of the collaboration will be to improve and strengthen the model to enable its growth and expansion into additional rural communities in India and other countries in need.

"It is leading-edge thinking for a company like P&G to ally with an early-stage venture like Healthpoint Services," said Healthpoint co-founder and CEO Al Hammond. "We are excited to leverage the scale and capability of P&G to help reach underserved consumers, working towards delivery of a market-based model capable of transforming rural healthcare."  

"P&G's innovative learning partnership with Healthpoint Services is a great example of our Company commitment to touch and improve the lives of more consumers, in more parts of the world, more completely," said Nathan Estruth, vice-president, P&G FutureWorks. "P&G is excited to bring our people, expertise and global capability to not only further our own understanding of consumers, but also to help Healthpoint Services learn how to delight consumers while creating a robust business model that is both scalable and sustainable, leveraging our global reach and strong history in innovation".  

About Healthpoint Services

Healthpoint Services Global, based in the U.S., and its wholly-owned Indian operating subsidiary, Healthpoint Services India Pvt. Ltd., comprise a for-profit social enterprise. The company was co-founded by Dr. Al Hammond, Amit Jain, and Chris Dickey and incubated by Ashoka, the world's largest network of social entrepreneurs, which remains an active partner. Please visit www.globalhealthpoints.com for more information.

About Procter & Gamble

Four billion times a day, P&G brands touch the lives of people around the world. The company has one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Pampers(R), Tide(R), Ariel(R), Always(R), Whisper(R), Pantene(R), Mach3(R), Bounty(R), Dawn(R), Gain(R), Pringles(R), Charmin(R), Downy(R), Lenor(R), Iams(R), Crest(R), Oral-B(R), Duracell(R), Olay(R), Head & Shoulders(R), Wella(R), Gillette(R), Braun(R) and Fusion(R). The P&G community includes approximately 127,000 employees working in about 80 countries worldwide. Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest news and in-depth information about P&G and its brands.

SOURCE Healthpoint Services Global, Inc.