This important article highlights both the challenging economic, social, and environmental concerns that developing nations face in providing at least minimal-quality healthcare to all, especially large and sparsely distributed rural communities, and the exciting potential for point-of-care technologies to help surmount these challenges.
It is a wake-up call that we should heed, not only for developing nations, but also for isolated rural populations in the United States, such as Native Americans like the Navajo Nation and Alaska Natives. I believe any future dialogue about point-of-care technologies would benefit from including Native American providers and community members, because the opportunities to learn from each other’s experience are so great.