Saúde Criança Renascer- An integral perspective of health.
This entry has been selected as a finalist in the
Disruptive Innovations in Health and Health Care: Solutions People Want competition.
Traditional medicine, not only in Brazil but all over the world, focuses on the diagnose and treatment of sickness ignoring the psychological and social conditions of the patients. As a result, there are high rates of re-hospitalization because of the same sickness or others due to living conditions of poor families. However, throughout history, many authors like Heraclitus, Hipocrates, Sigmund Freud, Martin Luther King, Frijtof Capra shows the importance of the holistic understanding of being healthy, not limited to traditional “curative” and medical health sectors. By addressing the family’s socio-economic conditions, Renascer makes that theory happen, effectively applying the holistic concept of health.
The beneficiaries are children treated at Lagoa’s Hospital and their families.The main objective is to change the terrible conditions of life in a holistic way in 5 areas: Health, Family Income Generation, Housing, Education and Citizenship. Almost all of them are bellow the poverty line: According to data published in 2001 by the National Household Sample Survey from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics 32% of the population, 54 million people, are poor, 49 million people earn less than half of the monthly minimum wage in Brazil, 5 million have no income whatsoever. As a result, tens of millions of Brazilians live in urban slums that lack decent housing, clean water, or proper sanitation. Millions of children’s growth is stunted from chronic malnutrition. Many diseases, pneumonia, tuberculosis, rheumatic fever, anemia, skin lesions, are caused or exacerbated by extreme poverty.
About You
Location
Project Street Address
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Your idea
Focus of activity
Other
Year the initiative began (yyyy)
1991
Positioning of your initiative on the mosaic diagram
Which of these barriers is the primary focus of your work?
Health care not consumer friendly
Which of the principles is the primary focus of your work?
Democratize access
If you believe some other barrier or principle should be included in the mosaic, please describe it and how it would affect the positioning of your initiative in the mosaic:
This field has not been completed
Name Your Project
Saúde Criança Renascer- An integral perspective of health.
Describe Your Idea
Traditional medicine, not only in Brazil but all over the world, focuses on the diagnose and treatment of sickness ignoring the psychological and social conditions of the patients. As a result, there are high rates of re-hospitalization because of the same sickness or others due to living conditions of poor families. However, throughout history, many authors like Heraclitus, Hipocrates, Sigmund Freud, Martin Luther King, Frijtof Capra shows the importance of the holistic understanding of being healthy, not limited to traditional “curative” and medical health sectors. By addressing the family’s socio-economic conditions, Renascer makes that theory happen, effectively applying the holistic concept of health.
The beneficiaries are children treated at Lagoa’s Hospital and their families.The main objective is to change the terrible conditions of life in a holistic way in 5 areas: Health, Family Income Generation, Housing, Education and Citizenship. Almost all of them are bellow the poverty line: According to data published in 2001 by the National Household Sample Survey from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics 32% of the population, 54 million people, are poor, 49 million people earn less than half of the monthly minimum wage in Brazil, 5 million have no income whatsoever. As a result, tens of millions of Brazilians live in urban slums that lack decent housing, clean water, or proper sanitation. Millions of children’s growth is stunted from chronic malnutrition. Many diseases, pneumonia, tuberculosis, rheumatic fever, anemia, skin lesions, are caused or exacerbated by extreme poverty.
Innovation
Define the innovation
Traditional medicine, not only in Brazil but all over the world, focuses on the diagnose and treatment of sickness ignoring the psychological and social conditions of the patients. As a result, there are high rates of re-hospitalization because of the same sickness or others due to living conditions of poor families. However, throughout history, many authors like Heraclitus, Hipocrates, Sigmund Freud, Martin Luther King, Frijtof Capra shows the importance of the holistic understanding of being healthy, not limited to traditional “curative” and medical health sectors. By addressing the family’s socio-economic conditions, Renascer makes that theory happen, effectively applying the holistic concept of health.
The beneficiaries are children treated at Lagoa’s Hospital and their families.The main objective is to change the terrible conditions of life in a holistic way in 5 areas: Health, Family Income Generation, Housing, Education and Citizenship. Almost all of them are bellow the poverty line: According to data published in 2001 by the National Household Sample Survey from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics 32% of the population, 54 million people, are poor, 49 million people earn less than half of the monthly minimum wage in Brazil, 5 million have no income whatsoever. As a result, tens of millions of Brazilians live in urban slums that lack decent housing, clean water, or proper sanitation. Millions of children’s growth is stunted from chronic malnutrition. Many diseases, pneumonia, tuberculosis, rheumatic fever, anemia, skin lesions, are caused or exacerbated by extreme poverty.
Context for Disruption:
The medical services being provided were inefficient and ineffective in improving children’s health if those children did not have the basic needs (housing, education, family income, food, access to social services) for maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Sick children, many with preventable illnesses, were being treated, only to return months later with a life-threatening infection. Renascer’s main objective is to break a vicious circle of misery / illness / hospital admission/ release /readmission/death
The work of Renascer of reestructuring the families lifes begining with the transformation and changing in the tradicional health system in public hospitals in Brazil is being proved to be eficient due to the great results.
The work with these children helped to decrease their re-hospitalization in more than 60% and almost ended the re-hospitalization due to social causes.
Over nearly 16 years, the services provided to the families have been analyzed, improved and systematized in order to improve its results.
Delivery Model
Renascer work in a focus way, only attend children treated at Lagoa’s Hospital in Rio de Janeiro and their families.Each child and family is followed during 2 years with a case load of 230 to 250 families per month.
Renascer don’t want to increase its penetration in order not to loose quality and the goods results obtained so far.
The model reach the target population easily due to our concern in only be linked to one especific hospital. From our network The Child Health Network we are able to reach more people and replicate our innovate model.
To communicate its work Renascer has a complete website, a book , the founder Vera Cordeiro is always giving speechs about the work in Brazil and abroad.She is considered throughout the world, as one of the most important social Brazilian entrepreneurs.Vera is a fellow of Ashoka, leader of Avina, social entrepreneur of the Schwab Foundation and a member of the Path Board.
In addition , the history of Renascer is one of the chapters of the book How to change the world-Social entrepreneurs and the power of new ideas by American Journalist David Bornstein.
Key Operational Partnerships
Renascer was able to built and maintain many partnerships with companies, institutes and foundations. Since 1995 Renascer counts on the support of Unimed, (sponsor around 36% of the medicines the families need), Kinder Institute in Brazil ( sponsor for the profissionalization program, a Swiss-Brazilian institute which sponsors social projects in our country.), L’Oreal (a partner in the profissionalization project offering technical support, as well as training opportunities for students and teachers and providing us with products at a discount rate.), Senac( a technical studies institute in Brazil, Queiroz Galvão (sponsor of the housing refurbishing program), UNESCO ( sponsor of food, diapers, school material and medical equipment’s), Johnson & Johnson (sponsor of educational speeches for mothers and for adolescents, meals and transportation) Praxair (strengthening of Renascer’s network and salaries, courses and equipment for the professionalization of the Child Health Network ) and Skoll Foundation (sponsors the creation of new institutions).
Renascer also counts on the help of more than 1000 individual donors, 200 people acting as godfathers/godmothers for the families and a team of more than 140 volunteers in all areas.
Impact
Financial Model
In the operating cost Renascer has earned income from products from the Fish Hook project, Renascer’s self sustaintability project and from fundraising events like bazars, concerts, plays etc. The percentage is an average of 15,7%
What is your annual operating budget?
U$900.841,10
What are your current sources of revenue? (please list any sources that are foundation grants)
Maintenance resources for Associação Saúde Criança Renascer comes from members, godfathers, patners, companies for especifics projects and esporadic donations from individuals and organizations.The percentage of it is:Others-1,5%; Individuals-18.3%; Corporations-57,2%;Events-5,4%; Revenues-7,4%;Products-10,3%
Renascer has also developed an revenue-generating project , called the Fish Hook Project, to reduce Renascer’s dependency on donations. Through this project, Renascer has developed an original clothing line (including T-shirts, cloth dolls, bags, and accessories), jewelry line and other products bearing the Renascer logo. Products are sold through donated store space in a popular Rio’s shopping mall.
Effectiveness
Over these years, the services provided to the families have been analyzed, improved and systematized in order to improve results. The model has been proven efficient through a study based on a random sample of 200 families who participated in the program . The study indicated that there was a decrease of 63% in the amount of re-hospitalization in Lagoa Hospital because of Renascer’s presence. Also, re-hospitalization due to social causes was eliminated.
Since its founding, Renascer has directly assisted more than 2,372 families totaling more than 8,134 children. Furthermore, Renascer has provided over 1,539 work tools and offered professional courses to more than 1,954 family members, enabling them to generate income or contribute to an increase in family income. Currently, Renascer supports 234 families and 819 children. The Child Health Network has now 17 institutions and attends 600 families and 2,400 children monthly. It can be estimated that the number of beneficiaries of the program to date is around 20,000 children. In recognition of Renascer’s proven excellence, the organization and its founder have won 18 national and international awards, among them, the Global Development Network’s Award for the “Most Innovative Development Project” in 2003.
Renascer’s work changes completely the lives of the families, involving civil society in improving Brazil’s dramatic social concerns.
The women, who are usually the heads of the families who participate in our project, are inserted into society. They are informed of their rights, helped in acquiring documents and government benefits, and improvements are made to their houses. In our lectures, they learn about hygiene, sexual disease, among other urgent issues. Through the professionalization courses offered, they acquire an opportunity to sustain their families. They grow from feeling helpless to being productive, which has great impact in their positioning
Which element of the program proved itself most effective?
Renascer work in five areas;Health, Housing, Education, Citizenship and Income Generation.
From those, one of the areas that has first been proven to be efficient is Health through a study based on a random sample of 200 families, indicating that there was a decrease on the number of re-hospitalization of 63% in Lagoa Hospital with the presence of the Renascer
There is also a significant increase in the health status of the child.Whereas only 22% of the children entering the program showed health as “good”, 47% leaving the program were healthy.Those with precarious health conditions, dropped from 46% of the families to 22%.
Number of clients in the last year?
In the last year, 2006, Renascer attended 360 families totalizing 1440 persons.
What is the potential demand?
The demand for such a model is striking when considering the levels of poverty in Brazil and the country’s highly skewed distribution of wealth. According to data published in 2001 by the National Household Sample Survey (PNAD) from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), the wealthiest 10% of the country’s population controls 46% of the total income, while 40% of the poorest have access only to 10.1% of the wealth produced in the country, 32% of the population – 54 million people – are poor, and 49 million people earn less than half of the monthly minimum wage in Brazil, approximately US$62 per month, 5 million people have no income whatsoever.We also believe that Renascer has the potential to be replicated in other countries as well. In July 2000, a group of UN representatives accompanied by Ruth Cardoso (Brazil’s Former First Lady) visited Renascer. During the visit, Graça Machel (Nelson Mandela´s wife) said : “This is the most complete health care model I have ever seen throughout the world” She expressed her desire to implement Renascer´s model in South Africa.
Scaling up Strategy
The priority of Renascer fot the next 3 years is to increase the replication and spread its social change idea through capacity-building and knowledge transfer to like-minded groups Furthermore Renascer is implementing a trust fund to ensure Renascer’s future and
Is working to strenght Renascer’s revenue generating project and keep a no ending search for new partenerships, sponsors and recognition with awards like yours in order to spread
more and more the idea.
All of these to maintain the good results with quality and transparency and spread more and more Renascer’s innovation program
Stage of the initiative:
2
Expansion plan:
Renascer´s long term goal is to have a similar institution attached to each public hospital in Brazil serving as model in the world. To accomplish this Renascer holds workshops, produces replication materials describing the steps to found a new institution, maintains a network development program, with training and periodic progress reviews, and offers financial support for the replicated institutions. In the next three to five years our goal is to assist the development of four institutions in each year. To achieve that Renascer wants to expand its replication program which includes: staff to investigate possible new institutions, help these achieve visibility in their location and assist in developing a resource base.
In order to facilitate the spread of her model beyond Brazil, as well as increase funding resources, Dr. Cordeiro founded the U.S.-based organization Friends of Renascer in New York in 2000. Now with tax-exempt status, Dr. Cordeiro sees a great opportunity for increasing investment in the Child’s Health Network and visibility for the idea.
And furthermore Renascer’s strategy will be strenght of Renascer’s revenue generating project, the trust fund and the no ending search for new partenerships, sponsors and recognition with awards in order to spread more and more the idea.
Origin of the Initiative
Renascer was created in 1991 by Dr. Vera Cordeiro, a physician with twenty years of experience at public hospitals. She had a particular insight into the problem of the health system while working in the pediatrics ward of Lagoa’s Hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: the medical services being provided were inefficient and ineffective in improving the child’s health if that child did not have the basic needs (housing, education, income, food, access to social services) for a healthy lifestyle. Sick children, many with preventable illnesses, were being treated only to return months later with a life-threatening infection. This meant that health professionals were faced with the challenge of not only “curing” the child’s illness but the conditions of poverty this child lived in. Renascer’s main objective is to break a vicious circle of misery/illness/inpatientadmission/release/readmission/death by restructuring these children’s families in five essential areas: Health, Family Income Generation, Housing, Education and Citizenship Access through the development of a “Family Plan”.
This Entry is about (Issues)
Sustainability
What are your two main challenges to finance the growth of your initiative
The two main challenge in financing the growth of Renascer is in getting sponsors to finance administrative costs( salaries, taxes, office material) and others costs that are not directed to our final work.
And the other challenge we are facing is building our trust fund so that Renascer work can continue forever.
We are targeting private banks, social investors, foundations , companies and people from the highest sectors of Brazilian society.
How did you hear about this contest and what is your main incentive to participate?
We heard about the context from the website and from Ashoka as Vera Cordeiro, Renascer founder is a fellow and also we are pleased to hear from the Changemakers team encouraging the institution to participate on the contest.
The Story
Do you have an annual financial statement?
Yes Renascer’s has an annual financial statement and is audited every year by Deloitte for the purpose of ensuring the integrity and trasparency of the application of funds collected and of the results generated by its collaborators and partners. Renascer’s has been granted positive assessments since 1996. The accountant is published in the Quarterly Bulletim of Renascer, sent to all partners via e-mail and available on-line on the institution website.
Do you currently have an annual financial statement that tracks profit/loss?
Yes Renascer has an annual financial statement that tracks profit/loss.
Please describe the amount (and/or type) of funding you need to implement your initiative, at year 1 and at year 5.
This field has not been completed
 | 205 weeks agoJongle Green said: Individuals with diabetes mellitus and their providers view the world from their own perspectives and bring these different perspectives ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 248 weeks agochris macrae said: Have the costs per family served been going up or down over the years that Renascer has developed its model? Is there evidence of ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 248 weeks agoVera Cordeiro said: 1- - It´s easily in one hand, because you can start only given to the families food and medicines. The new institutions based on ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 249 weeks agoTyler Ahn said: Dear Dr. Cordeiro: How easily and rapidly has your model scaled up? With the patients not being able to pay for the help that they ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 249 weeks agoSaúde Criança Renascer- An integral perspective of health. has been chosen as a finalist in Disruptive Innovations in Health and Health Care: Solutions People Want. |
