How Knock Foundation Partnered with United Urology Centers on Development Work in Africa

By F. Bruce Cohen
Chief Financial Officer, United Therapies
Co-Founder, Knock Foundation, Inc.

In the summer of 2009, acting through a non-profit I founded with four others, Knock Foundation, Inc., I approached the Earth Institute at Columbia University on its Millennium Cities Initiative (MCI) about possibly working together. I had received a master’s degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and thought they might have some ideas as to how we could work together, which they did.

Knock’s vision is similar to that of MCI’s albeit significantly smaller in scale: to build a grassroots organization that initiates and actively affects positive change in the developing world. By working closely with affected communities, Knock develops comprehensive, self-sustaining and holistic practices designed to alleviate poverty and its attendant problems.

Our work stems from an abiding belief that to reach one’s full potential, every human being must have the opportunity to pursue an education, practice healthy living, and exist in a clean environment.

MCI is the urban counterpart to the Millennium Villages Project and an outgrowth of the national-level policy work carried out by the United Nations Millennium Project. MCI’s core mission is to help selected cities across sub-Saharan Africa complete an urban transformation — one essential to attaining the Millennium Development Goals eight fundamental and quantifiable targets agreed to by 192 countries — aimed at cutting in half extreme poverty and creating the conditions for sustainable economic development.

One of these targets relates to improving the delivery of quality healthcare.

Given my role with United Urology Centers, LLC and its relationship with more than 400 practicing urologists in the U.S., I thought this could provide a good opportunity. I approached the Company’s managers about “sponsoring” a trip of our urologists and they both agreed immediately. Although for healthcare regulatory reasons the Company was precluded from providing any financial assistance to the doctors for the trip (other than providing medical supplies and logistical support), the managers’ have always recognized the Company’s obligation to not only provide the highest caliber healthcare services available but also, to be good corporate citizens.

In the past, this obligation has been put into practice in not only providing free or significantly discounted care when circumstances warranted but also modifying company practices to be more “green” and environmentally sensitive. The latest and perhaps most committed demonstration of their dedication to good corporate citizenship, supporting a trip of our urologists overseas to provide much-needed medical care.

A series of future posts will chronicle those efforts. Both the Knock Foundation and United Urology Centers are proud to have been involved in this important project that addresses a problem that confronts not only Africa, but the entire global community as well.