LIF-ting Xicotepec: UK and Mexican innovation transforming lives
The UK-funded programme, LIF, has joined efforts with a rural area in Mexico to improve health services.
A nephew of mine lost a leg to diabetes. Maybe he would have been saved if we had known about this program sooner.
Jaime Martínez, 55 years old.
Xicotepec in the state of Puebla is a rural area surrounded by hills and mountains where the lack of public services, economic marginalisation; and limited access to quality medical services can make life difficult.
Imagine waking up at two in the morning with an unbearable toothache with no health services nearby. The only available options are taking a pill that doesn’t relieve the pain, trying a home remedy (clove oil), or waiting until dawn to take a three-hour bus ride to the nearest doctor.
This is the daily reality for many people in Mexico, where 88% of dentists are in large cities; and doctors in rural areas serve more than 23 people a day.
In February 2024, a group of innovators from Mexico and Leaders in Innovation Fellows (LIF) decided to do something about it. Mariana Delgado, Pedro Ornelas, Enrique Hernández and Alfredo Gilbert organised a Community Health Services (CHS) Week in Xicotepec.
Lif-ting Xicotepec
LIF is a UK-funded programme that helps Mexican innovators develop inventions that can have a positive social impact by linking them with expert mentors and international networks, as well as funds to offer their high-tech products and services in communities in need of health services.
During CHS Week, 265 people received medical care, 90 mothers attended breast cancer prevention and screening sessions, 40 doctors were trained in wound healing, more than 200 people were trained in dental disease prevention; and 60 attendees were trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation courses.
Ms. Ramirez, one of the beneficiaries, commented:
The service was very good and necessary. The truth is that we don’t go to the doctor often because we can’t afford it.
Thanks to the LIF Programme, and access to medical tools and training, Xicotepec’s health system has been transformed.
Xicotepec has received a real ‘LIF-ting’, and this collaboration with the UK has made a real difference in helping to raise the quality of life and offering hope to this marginalised community. With continued efforts and support for innovation, more communities will be able to follow this example and improve their access to health services.
Are you a Mexican innovator? A new opportunity to participate in the LIF Program will open soon. Find out more here https://raeng.org.uk/lif.