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.