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Category
Multicultural Impact
Annual ID
OS24_CD004G
About the Work
According to the UN, while 55% of the world’s population lives in urban areas, billions of people live in remote and underdeveloped places far away from medical attention. In consequence, according to Forbes, half the world’s population has limited access to diagnostics, especially people in remote locations where simple routine exams like mammograms are still a distant reality. In these remote areas, many premature deaths could be avoided with just a simple test. That is why we partnered with KDOG to create Dogs Without Borders — a first-of-its-kind initiative that uses medical dogs to sniff out disease in remote areas where doctors and diagnostics are out of reach. Dogs Without Borders rescues dogs waiting to die in shelters and trains them to save people in isolated locations. By just sniffing odor samples from locals, dogs can diagnose diseases before it is too late, saving human lives in consequence.
We partnered with KDOG to create Dogs Without Borders — a global, scalable and affordable initiative that uses medical dogs to sniff out disease in remote areas where doctors and diagnostics are out of reach. Dogs Without Borders rescues dogs waiting to die in overcrowded shelters and trains them to save people in isolated locations, being a win-win health system. Detection is possible thanks to a bone-shaped “odor collection kit” we created and handed to locals with all they need for the collection:simple visual instructions, soap, gauze and a thermal ziplock bag for the sample. The kit is designed to withstand harsh environments. After collection, the odor samples are sniffed by the dogs. The sooner they sniff them, the sooner patients can be sent for further analysis and treatment.
Since January 2023, over 1,450 patients have been reached and diagnosed, across three different continents, including Amazon Forest natives in Brazil and nomads in the Sahara desert in Morocco. The collected samples not only help save lives that could be lost if patients go undiagnosed, but they also become a tool for future research and dog training.
With dogs being able to detect diseases like cancer with 100% accuracy, the government of Brazil has already included our detection dogs as part of the public
We partnered with KDOG to create Dogs Without Borders — a global, scalable and affordable initiative that uses medical dogs to sniff out disease in remote areas where doctors and diagnostics are out of reach. Dogs Without Borders rescues dogs waiting to die in overcrowded shelters and trains them to save people in isolated locations, being a win-win health system. Detection is possible thanks to a bone-shaped “odor collection kit” we created and handed to locals with all they need for the collection:simple visual instructions, soap, gauze and a thermal ziplock bag for the sample. The kit is designed to withstand harsh environments. After collection, the odor samples are sniffed by the dogs. The sooner they sniff them, the sooner patients can be sent for further analysis and treatment.
Since January 2023, over 1,450 patients have been reached and diagnosed, across three different continents, including Amazon Forest natives in Brazil and nomads in the Sahara desert in Morocco. The collected samples not only help save lives that could be lost if patients go undiagnosed, but they also become a tool for future research and dog training.
With dogs being able to detect diseases like cancer with 100% accuracy, the government of Brazil has already included our detection dogs as part of the public
2024 Awards
Total Points: 45
Gold Pencil
Credits
Agency
VML / New York
VML Health Spain
VML / São Paulo
Production Company
Digital 21 / São Paulo
La Boutique 77 / Madrid
Chief Creative Officer
Natxo Diaz
Creative Director
Eduardo Domínguez
Rodrigo Cabello
Leo Rincón
Adrián Poveda
Director
Rodolfo Patrocinio
Executive Creative Director
Beto Rogoski
Group Creative Director
Guillermo Aracena
Joao Jackel
Fabio Ozorio
Motion Designer
Luis lemes
Nicolás Sierra
CCO EMEA
Jaime Mandelbaum
Chief Creative Officer NA
Jason Xenopoulos
Deputy Global CCO
Rafael Pitanguy
Global CCO
Debbi Vandeven
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