What is strikingly different about the UN meeting...is the role that many healthcare companies have chosen to play...This year...many companies have embraced the business opportunity of serving low income populations...GE, for example, is inventing low-cost, portable medical devices such as a hand-held ultrasound machine that can be used in remote rural communities and transmit pictures to clinics in faraway towns...Roche is piloting a new breast cancer screening process in Thailand...What is even more striking...is the shift we are seeing from companies as suppliers of pills and devices to active participants in shaping efficient and effective healthcare systems...Medtronic is launching a major initiative to design medical devices that meet the needs of lower income populations in India, but also includes interventions to improve the entire eco-system of healthcare [also refers to Eli Lilly & Co, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Novartis]