Showcasing Africa, the digital health hub

Eric Gaju presents major health initiatives in Rwanda

Africa can be dubbed the world’s new mobile for development M4D hub if the digital initiatives and experiences being shared at the four-day Africa Digital Health Meeting,  supported by USAID, currently underway in Lilongwe Malawi  are anything to go by.

With a rich showcase of around 120 mhealth interventions at the Meeting and participation from every corner of Africa including; Malawi, Niger, Senegal, Nigeria, Madagascar, Kenya,  and others including USAID officials, African government representative,  leading private sector firms and innovators from around the world the conference is booming with innovation and insights into the future.

To learn that one of the reasons why Rwanda has achieved MDGs 4 and MD5 is  is partly due to the country's early adoption and efficient use of digital technology in its national  health  initiatives, makes ICT4D all the more worth it for promoters, practitioners, innovators and students of ICT4D.

This was highlighted in one of the mind-stirring discussions themed Digital Health Tools  for Frontline Health Workers which included  panelist; Marco Horta of Dimagi,  Eric Gaju of the Ministry of Health in Rwanda and Maeghan Orton of MedicMobile.

Panelist Eric Gaju explained that one of the digital health initiative Rapid SMS in Rwanda which was among two other  ehealth  programmes. Rapid SMS is mainly targeted at reducing maternal and neonatal mortality rates through health sensitization and tracking of expectant mothers and their cases greatly helped Rwanda to reach the MDG targets years before the 2015 expiry of the Development Goals..

Gaju said political advocacy through a Rwanda technical working group greatly helped to gain political will and support for the digital health initiatives.

Asked on the costs incurred in implementing the initiative, Gaju  said “ we are now in favour of open source software  because ofcourse the licensed software were expensive.”

On his part Marco Horta from the developer’s view said that open source platforms such as Comcare are greatly assisting to ensure quality in healthcare systems due to their inclusive usability from data collection stages of mhealth projects to point-of care and medical supplies monitoring and other logistical support. Marco ofcourse called for the need for interoperability of mhealth tools.

The Meeting ends Friday May 15, 2015 with an awards ceremony of the best paper. Follow insights from  the Digital Health Meeting by using #DHAfrica on Twitter. 

Mobile money for improved maternal health, the African story

Pic:Courtesy of D-Tree

Healthcare in Africa is reaching a whole new dimension with the introduction of  mobile money to health systems. 

Mobile money itself takes many local names by the  countries but be it Mpesa in Kenya,  Airtel Money across Africa or Mpamba in Malawi,  the power of these mobile money services is now being  harnessed to take reproductive health services,  health insurance and  and universal health covereage  to those who needed most, the poor masses of  rural Africa.

Sharing her story at the Africa Regional Meeting on Digital  Health, Erica Layer of D-Tree tells the success of  the lives of women in Zanzibar who have had safe deliveries in medical facilities as opposed to the age-old norm of home delivery which has been a part of life in  Zanzibar until recently.

Through a mobile-money based initiative, D-Tree transfers mobile money into the mobile phones held by community health volunteers who monitor pregnant women, the volunteers through the mobile phones closely link the health centres with the expectant mothers by keeping the health officials informed about the numbers and health status of the pregnant women in their areas in between medical centre visits. At the time of delivery, the community volunteers informs the facilities of the women to expects and when to expect the deliveries and this is done  with the collaboration of a network of taxi drivers who provide the transport  to the hospitals.

Despite its huge success, D-Tree’s mhealth initiatives in Zanzibar  are not without challenges as  Erica layer highlighted difficulties in does forecasting transport needs of the mothers as  a challenge and the need for  a culture of digital reporting and accountability among the community volunteers. She also called for improvement in connectivity and an automated medical record system. Nevertheless, the programme has been hugely successful and will be scaled  out to Tanzania. The  four-day meeting is supported by USAID.