Dr John Sargent (left) and Dr Ernest Darkoh have used their personal experiences to fuel their passion for providing better healthcare to the poor.

Dr Ernest Darkoh and Dr John Sargent’s drive to deliver better health outcomes was motivated by experiences in Africa. As a child growing up in Tanzania and Kenya, Darkoh had a front-row seat to the theatre of poverty and disparity. “I vividly recall one of my childhood playmates going to the clinic for a simple illness and dying; homeless children on the streets, beggars with all manner of visible health problems and the difference between the wealthy and the have-nots. From an early age, this instilled in me a strong sense of wanting to make a difference,” he says.

Sargent’s inspiration came later in life while working for the Red Cross in a remote refugee camp in Sierra Leone. There was no running water, no electricity and entire communities were at the mercy of rebel groups. “Seeing the need, seeing all these people who had no access to health, no access to a fair life made me realise that this was my calling,” he says. The pair met while studying at Harvard Medical School and 30 years later, they are still using their highly compatible and complementary skillsets to make a difference. After medical school, both went into management consulting and used these experiences to create a more efficient way to address the HIV crisis.