Second Sook Marathon: A Platform for Lessons Learned from 5 Innovations Transforming the Nation

The National Health Security Office (NHSO) and ThaiHealth invite participation in the “Second Sook Marathon,” showcasing 5 social innovations that reduce health disparities, alongside promoting the pay-for-success investment concept on 17-18 July 2024 at Samyan Mitrtown.

A new step forward in reducing inequity through “pay-for-success investment.”

Although Thailand is internationally recognized for its success with the Universal Health Coverage system and has infrastructure widely distributed nationwide, access to services alone is insufficient to truly reduce social and health inequities. Other factors contribute, such as education quality, the economy, socio-economic status, environment, and access to resources.

Dr. Santi Lapbenjakul, Secretary-General of the National Health Security Office (NHSO), said that NHSO and its partners have collaborated on a new approach called “Social Impact Partnership - Pay for Success.” This concept focuses on cooperation among government, private sector, civil society, and academia by shifting budget allocation from activity-based funding to outcome-based investment, or linking budgets to real results achieved by the population, using Social Return on Investment (SROI) as a measure of value.

Introducing 5 social innovations elevating the quality of life for Thai people.

The pilot projects, covering all age groups and ready for scaling up, have undergone Social Return on Investment (SROI) evaluation together with independent academic bodies such as TDRI and the Health Systems Research Institute (HSRI). They consist of these 5 social innovations:

• ICAP-ECD project Covers 1,270 early childhood classrooms across 75 provinces, engaging more than 31,750 children annually. Results show that children with developmental delays can return to normal developmental levels, and the number of children with high executive function (EF) skills has tripled.
• Angel Teacher project Focuses on empowering teachers to provide mental health services to youth in schools. Currently, over 600 Angel Teachers in more than 200 schools nationwide have screened the mental health of over 18,260 students, significantly improving symptoms in children with moderate depression.
• LD-Ramathibodi project Enhances care for children with learning disabilities (LD) from hospitals to schools. Findings show that children receiving full follow-up improved reading and writing skills by 100%.
• DM-VBHC project Develops a diabetes care system across a network of 43 community hospitals, covering over 43,000 patients. This has increased the rate of blood sugar control from 32% to 50%.
• Yuen Yen project Develops home-based care systems for end-stage patients, allowing 75% of patients to live their final days according to their wishes. The program is currently expanding to 100 community hospitals nationwide.

Overall, these 5 projects yield social returns ranging from 1:4 to 1:11, demonstrating that shifting investment methods to “pay-for-results” can reduce inequity and improve resource efficiency without needing additional budgets.

Join in creating a “Sustainable Healthy City” at the Second Sook Marathon.

To connect knowledge and promote new working methods that drive systemic national change, NHSO, ThaiHealth, and partners are preparing to host the event “Second Sook Marathon SOOK CITY: A Sustainable Healthy City—From Inequity to Pay-for-Success Investment in Thailand.”

The event will feature presentations of social innovations, academic forums for knowledge exchange among policymakers and practitioners from over 60 organizations nationwide, real-world case studies, and short films reflecting youth perspectives on social inequity.

The “Second Sook Marathon” will be held on 17-18 July 2024 at Samyan Mitrtown. Interested parties may attend for free and can find details and register athttps://web.facebook.com/share/p/1Brrtr24AZ/