November 2022
An important update regarding Equalize Health
What has happened:
In November 2022 The Life You Can Save received the sad news that our recommended charity Equalize Health has gone into administration and will be forced to close its doors. This is such a significant loss to the many people who would have benefited from future innovative Equalize Health products, to Equalize Health’s hard-working staff and, of course, to donors like you.
Equalize Health’s Board of Directors has issued the following statement regarding this difficult decision:
Statement from Equalize Health’s Board of Directors:
With great sorrow, we share the news that Equalize Health is closing its doors. This magnificent organization, which has done so much good in the world, came up against a cash timing issue which will not allow us to carry our work forward. It is not for want of trying. Equalize Health has faithful and generous donors, a committed, talented team, and longtime advisors and partners. We feel enormous gratitude to all of them for traveling a long and productive journey with Equalize Health.
Equalize Health has contributed important innovations to global health. 1,680,000 patients have been treated with Equalize Health medical devices. Our products have helped increase maternal and infant survival rates, improved mobility, and have scaled world-class, affordable solutions across 80 countries. 4,800 healthcare workers have been trained by Equalize Health’s ECHO Tele-mentoring Program.
Over time, Equalize Health has shown the global health community what it means to apply user-centered design to create products that really work for people in different environments, at a price that creates real market solutions. Our fervent hope is that others will pick up the mantle of this approach to carry forward the importance of making affordable and world-class medical devices available in every setting to individuals across the globe. We will also work to make sure that the organization’s products and IP find a useful home.
All of us who have supported and followed Equalize Health over its lifetime understand that innovation carries risk. Equalize Health has been innovative in its place in the global health arena, in its fidelity to a user-centered design approach, in its focus on rigorous impact measurement and in the products it has put out into the world. We are proud of all that Equalize Health has achieved, and deeply saddened in this moment for the many more patients and clinicians we’d hoped to serve and for our employees.
Thank you for traveling this journey with us.
Respectfully,
Equalize Health’s Board of Directors
To echo Equalize Health’s message above, at The Life You Can Save we understand that innovation carries risk, especially for non-profit organizations like Equalize Health. Our Research & Evaluation team works to foresee and mitigate that risk as much as possible by conducting regular reviews of our recommended charities. Our team conducted a charity review of Equalize Health as recently as November 2021. And while our 2022 review was still in progress at the time we received this news, our team met with Equalize Health’s leadership throughout 2022, as recently as September 2022.
This unfortunate news comes as a great shock to us. In light of the circumstances, we have suspended the ability to donate to Equalize Health through The Life You Can Save.
We know that you may have questions or concerns, especially as a past supporter of Equalize Health. We will provide updates on the situation as we receive them, but please don’t hesitate to contact us at research@thelifeyoucansave.org with any questions regarding our evaluation process, either of Equalize Health or any of our recommended charities.
