NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Would you ever consider strapping a small sensor to your finger? One that connects to your phone and detects your malaria status, via an app?

Believe it or not, this technology exists. It was developed by the Ugandan Team Code 8 at last year’s Imagine Cup. The app helps improve people’s healthcare and saves lives, all through the power of technology.

When I founded access.mobile in 2011 as a mobile and web-based technology provider for data collection, client communication and decision support, I wanted to focus on the healthcare sector. Our first area of work was in the healthcare sector in Uganda, where we helped 70 private clinics better manage data collection processes related to service delivery, all through a mobile application and web-based solution called am•health. We are also rolling out ClinicCommunicatorTM, a web application that offers health clinics an easy way to manage patient communication and care, including SMS and email-based appointment reminders, medication compliance and patient surveys.

I believe that there are big opportunities at the intersection of health and technology in Africa. At the heart of the matter is to facilitate access to quality healthcare services for consumers, and to find ways for the public and private sector to work together to improve health standards and facilitate technology adoption in high impact ways.