What could Ubuntu mean for health equity? Equiva CEO Nir Altman ponders this question in a recent blog post, citing an article titled Ubuntu Philosophy in Healthcare recently published at KevinMD.com, the widely known platform where physicians, advanced practitioners and patients share insights and tell stories.

Coming from the Nguni language spoken in southern Africa, “Ubuntu” is often translated as ‘humanity to others.’

“I grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa and the term made an impression on me in the context of social equity, acts of kindness and other humanity-centric topics,” Altman writes.

The word Ubuntu is part of the Zulu phrase ‘Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu,’ which translates to this: a person is a person through other people. According to the KevinMD author, “It transcends color and racial barriers, geographical barriers, political barriers, religious barriers, gender barriers, etc.”

In his blog, Altman draws a parallel to health equity.

The healthcare industry faces enormous health equity challenges. According to a 2018 study by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the non-profit agency Altarum, health disparities cost $42 billion in lowered productivity and $93 billion in excess medical costs each year.

“Perhaps as we evaluate approaches to addressing health inequities, we consider Ubuntu as a part of our framework for taking action, using it to help us focus on common humanity and oneness,” Altman writes.

Read the blog post here.

Canvas Medical, an electronic medical record that enables clinicians and developers to power the future of care delivery, has raised $24 million in Series B funding led by M13. Haystack and previous investors also took part in the round, including Inspired Capital, IA Ventures, Upfront Ventures, and Irongrey.

Canvas also gained federal certification through the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT — a major product milestone for the company.

The certification makes Canvas customers eligible for value-based payment models in Medicare and Medicaid programs, as well as many commercial value-based programs.

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Particle Health, an API platform for advanced healthcare data exchange, has closed a $25 million Series B funding round. This new investment will accelerate the growth of Particle’s analytics products, facilitate the launch of its  partner platform, and help serve its growing customer base by scaling its customer service and engineering teams.

Troy Bannister, Particle Health co-founder and CEO, said: “With this latest round of funding, our team is looking forward to evolving the capabilities of our API platform further to empower our users with even more meaningful and actionable data.”

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Fold Health, a health tech company focused on primary care, has closed a $6 million Seed funding round, according to Axios News. Jonathan Bush, the founder and CEO of Zus Health and former CEO of athenahealth, is one of the company’s investors.

Fold CEO Abhi Gupta is also an investor in Zus Health.

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Nucleus Genomics, a consumer genetic testing and analysis company, has raised $14 million in a new funding round led by Seven Seven Six.

The New York City-based company founded by Kian Sadeghi, is developing  a direct-to-consumer genetic testing platform with a genetic risk and disposition score analyses on an extensive number of diseases and traits by leveraging whole-genome sequencing. The company also provides its users total autonomy over their genetic data.

Among the company’s investors are: Founders Fund, Adrian Aoun (CEO, Forward Health), Brent Saunders (former CEO, Allergan), Patrick Hsu (Bioengineering Professor, UC Berkeley),  Shrug Capital, and more.

To read more, click here.

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