Money and Technology to boost Africa 1 billion people Health Sector

story byMawuna Remarque KOUTONIN

  On October 28, 1992, my mother died in my father’s car on the way to the closest clinic. She was bitten by a venomous snakes while seeking woods in the bush to make fire and cook food for us.
For many people living in rural areas in Africa, the nearest hospital could be many days’ journey away. In emergency cases like the one my family faced, you simply die on the way.
Compassionate entrepreneurs are picking up where failed states have abandoned their people.
In Kenya, Penda Health started opening a chain of health clinics targeting Kenya’s low and middle income population. The First clinic, located about 35km outside of Nairobi, in Kitengela, has been opened in February 2012. The big plan is to open and operate over 100 clinics across Kenya by 2020.

In the first 4 months of business the first clinic has had over 1,000 patient visits with an average spend of $5.00. The market is huge, and the opportunity to provide healthcare for low income and rural population is projected to be roughly $2B by 2020, in Kenya only.

A similar company in India, Primary Healthcare Services Pvt. Ltd, specialized in primary care clinic chain, has recently raised $4.5 millions from Norwest Venture Partners to expand operations from 15 clinics to 120 clinics over the next 18 months in Bangalore. In India, The primary healthcare market is currently estimated at $40 billion and is expected to cross $200 billion in the next 10 years.
Primary health care market is also huge in Africa, and undoubtedly similar enterprise will be equally successful in African countries. Pendahealth has just raised $100,000 for expansion.
There is also a huge need for mobile or web application for the African health sector, to solve vital issues like procurement, stock management, employees and patients booking and tracking, etc.

eHealth Nigeria has developed a health management solution that can be rapidly deployed to manage patient information, streamline clinical procedures, and provide data and analysis on health program outcomes. Another Nigerian company playing in the same field is MedicRAM, which provides a unified repository for medical records of all medical practitioners and patients; and ensures information security through the deployment of biometric data-access control solutions.
A Similar tech company in India, Practo Technologies Pvt Ltd, has recently raised $4.6 million from Sequoi. Their flagship product called Practo Ray, is a web-based clinic management software.
Medical tourism is another field where, African health sector entrepreneurs could help their fellow citizens find the best destinations, and provide additional services. Reviews and comparisons are much needed service.
For example, East African countries ranks the highest in medical tourism to India, with hundreds of thousand patients traveling to India to seek medical treatment every year, simply because Treating one patient in Europe with heart surgery is equivalent to treating five of such patients in India.
The Medical tourism information might not be focused only on foreign countries, but first on and between African countries. There are lot good clinics and hospitals in Africa, but the information should be shared.
One good initiative in that direction is Afridocsearch, an e-health directory that stores, verifies and rates health listings in Africa. The listing weeds out unlicensed and unqualified health providers and intends to help enhance quality service delivery overall.
On the hardware side there are two great enterprises worth mentioning: WinSenga, a pregnacy scan device, designed by Ugandan ICT Students; and Cardiopad, a computer tablet to diagnose heart disease in rural households with limited access to medical services.

WinSenga connects a funnel-like horn to a smartphone to perform ultrasounds on pregnant women. When pressed on the stomach, the the funnel will pick up fetal sounds and then transmit them to the phone, which displays information about the baby’s condition. An application on the phone also records and analyzes the sounds to determine information about the pregnancy and its progression, like the baby’s age and heart rate.

Cardiopad, designed by 24-year-old Cameroonian engineer Arthur Zang, uses a tablet that collects signals generated by the rhythmic contraction and expansion of a patient’s heart. Electrodes are fixed near the patient’s heart. The tablet then produces a moving graphical depiction of the cardiac cycle, which is wirelessly transmitted over GSM networks to a cardiologist for interpretation and diagnosis.

Cardiopad, has been featured by the Guardian among the top “15 ideas helping to transform a continent”. Cardiopad recently received a $40.000 grant from Cameroon government for further development of the project. In Cameroon there are 30 cardiologists for the 20 million inhabitants.
One last initiative to mention is the South African  “Tutu Tester” van, that takes sophisticated testing equipment and trained staff (including a nurse, a counselor and an educator) into areas without adequate health facilities.