Reciprocal innovation: A new approach to equitable and mutually beneficial global health research and partnership

Abstract

Background: Global health researchers and partnerships often discount the potential for mutual learning and benefit to address shared health challenges across high and low- and middle-income settings. Drawing from a 30-year partnership called AMPATH that started between Indiana University in the US and Moi University in Kenya, we describe an innovative approach and program for mutual learning and benefit coined “reciprocal innovation.” In this paper, we define reciprocal innovation and identify its core principles with illustrative examples and describe building a reciprocal innovation program established in 2018 at the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI). Results: Reciprocal innovation harnesses a bidirectional, co-constituted, and iterative exchange of ideas, resources, and innovations to address shared health challenges across diverse global settings. The success of the AMPATH partnership in western Kenya, particularly in the areas of HIV/AIDS and community health, resulted in several innovations in Kenya being “brought back” to the US. To facilitate and promote the bidirectional flow of learning and innovations, the Indiana CTSI reciprocal innovation program hosts annual meetings (hosted in Indiana and Kenya) of multinational researchers and practitioners to identify shared health challenges across diverse global settings and facilitate partnership building and collaboration. The program supports pilot grants for projects that demonstrate reciprocal exchange and benefit. The program has produced a wealth of educational materials, including videos, webinars and an online dashboard, to train investigators on reciprocal innovation approaches in global health. Lessons learned in building a reciprocal innovation program include increasing awareness of reciprocal approaches among investigators and in supporting collaboration for global–local research. While many global health investigators have strong collaborators with international partners, a challenge has been partnering with “local” Indiana researchers to create reciprocal learning and benefit. Conclusions: The transformative power of global health to address systemic health inequities embraces equitable and reciprocal partnerships with mutual benefit across countries and communities of academics, practitioners, and policymakers, as demonstrated through a reciprocal innovation approach. Leveraging a long-standing partnership, the Indiana CTSI has built a reciprocal innovation program with promise to redefine global health for shared wellbeing at a truly global scale.