Hitherto, Africa has been plagued with the
threat of disease and other health related issues amongst its population. There
rarely has been real-time disease surveillance and monitoring of data on
Africa, and as such have had to rely upon a few sentinel sites and modeling
estimates to track the spread and prevalence of disease. Use mobile telephony technology
has drastically changed this. A recent TA Telecom report on the African telecommunications
market indicates that mobile penetration in Africa hit 80 percent in the first
quarter of this year and is still growing at 4.2 percent annually. That’s
faster than anywhere else in the world, the report says, and Africa is, after
Asia, the world’s second-largest market. Which means that today, more than
eight in 10 Africans have a mobile phone.
Using
systems integrated to mobile telephony, quality data has been gathered such
that one can tell who is dying and from what, who is sick, and where clusters
of disease are occurring. Mobile phones are also helping by improving
vaccine supply chains. By allowing real-time data of stock levels in remote
facilities to filter back up the chain, it is possible to prevent unnecessary
stock-outs and ensure that vaccines are available when infants and children are
brought in to be immunized. Meanwhile, health-care workers in the field are now
able to access health records and can schedule appointments using their phones.
They can even issue automated text reminders to parents about when vaccine
clinics are being held. These are simple measures, yet highly effective.
Things
have also improved for pregnant women by use of technology. KimMNCHip, a
national-scale mHealth initiative to offer pregnant women in Kenya more choice,
control and care during their pregnancy, and improved medical care for them and
their babies during and after delivery. Once pregnant women register with their
due dates, information via a Maternal, Newborn, and Child (MNC) mHealth
advisory service is shared. The women receive a mix of “push” SMS and voice
messages, and access to call-in advisory hotlines and information databases for
Maternal Newborn and Child Health
issues. This information is disseminated at no cost to the women since SMS/voice
charges to be covered by donors. In additional to the information
dissemination, the women also get mFinancial
services. They are provided with electronic vouchers to redeem in a collaborating
clinic of their choice. The vouchers act as an incentive for clinics to enhance
the quality of their services and attract more pregnant women, through a
results-based payment system.
Further afield, a team of
ophthalmologists comprising of Dr Andrew Bastawrous and Stewart Jordan at the
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Dr Mario Giardini at the
University of Strathclyde, and Dr Iain Livingstone, at the Glasgow Centre for
Ophthalmic Research had a vision to extend eye care in Africa. Working with
developers, they created an Android application, known as Peek, which is
integrated to a clip on to run a range of tests, including visualization of the
back of the eye. Peek, portable eye examination kit, is currently under testing
with approximately 5,000 patients in Kenya. It can diagnose blindness, visual
impairment, cataracts, glaucoma, macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and
other retinal and optic nerve diseases and crucial indicators of brain tumour
and haemorrhage. The application is expected the help health workers in the
remote areas without skills in eye care to share images of the patients’ eye
with their skilled counterparts.
Smart
tablets are also playing and important role in improving health. In Cameroon, a
26 year old engineer developed a touch screen tablet that would be used to
examine a patient’s heart. Named a Cardiopad, the device is integrated to
sensors and is capable of carrying out an electrocardiogram. Mr. Arthur Zang is
currently working on a model that can run on solar power to cater areas without
access to electricity. The great invention will help patients with
cardiovascular health problems to access medical treatment faster and cheaper
thorough their local clinics and dispensaries. It wasn’t possible to send or
save the results electronically. With the Cardiopad, the results are digitalized
and transmitted. There is no need to print them; the heart surgeon can
interpret them, even remotely.
