Healthcare Delivery: Consumer Products for Disease Protection - Part II

John Paul — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 10:12:40 -0500

As I discussed in Tuesday’s post, there are an increasing number of businesses producing health-improving consumer products that are affordable to customers at the base of the pyramid. Today, I will highlight a few more examples, including specialized food items meant to improve nutrition, and inexpensive filters that reduce water-borne illnesses.

Nutrition

More than 350 million children and adults worldwide are suffering from malnutrition, a problem which accounts for more than half of child mortality in low-income countries. In addition to making a person more susceptible to illness in general, a diet bereft of proper nutrients can result in otherwise easily preventable diseases. For example, a lack of iodine and iron - normally found in foods like meat that are often too expensive for the poor to buy - severely impacts child growth and intellectual development. Vitamin A deficiency is also the main cause of preventable blindness.

Seeing a market opportunity, two of the world’s largest consumer goods companies have developed products aimed at combating poor nutrition. Proctor & Gamble (P&G) has created NutriStar, a powdered health drink designed to help kids grow better while also boosting their mental alertness and performance, while Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL) has developed a more stable iodine for salt that is effective in preventing iodine deficiency disorder.

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Healthcare Delivery: Consumer Products for Disease Protection - Part II