Digital innovation could seriously upscale Africa, but there’s still a long way to go

The biggest problem in the African health delivery system is not the number of sick people or the type of diseases, but ineffective system processes. Doctors are restricted in the treatment they can administer to patients, as their data collection is still predominantly paper based, allowing for records to be lost, mismanaged and destroyed. In addition, the computers and technology available to hospitals are used mainly to record payments rather than to chart treatments and profiles.

There’s no question that digital innovation, particularly applications, has taken the world by storm and is changing the lives of millions across the globe with its ability to connect, inform and enhance productivity. Inventions like Twitter have changed the way that news is shared, information accessed and people connected.

However, the African continent still lurks in the shadows of this great phenomenon and it’s not because we lack creativity or access. Southern Africa has one of the most rapidly growing mobile communities in the world.

With South Africa alone having a mobile penetration rate of 65.7% (GSMA Sub-Saharan Africa Mobile Economy Report 2013) it is unlikely that most people are out of the reach of relevant information. So what’s stopping us from using applications to enhance social, and more importantly, medical development?

Perhaps scepticism about the expense, trustworthiness and accessibility of technology solutions is a hindrance, but there are some Zimbabweans that are thinking a little differently.

The Muzinda-Umuzi Hub is a team of tech-savvy Zimbabweans who are forging ahead with the right attitude in terms of digital innovation in Africa. They are in the process of producing six apps aimed at improving the health care system in Zimbabwe.

Healthy Me is an app that helps users lose or gain their required amount of weight by providing diet information.

Nyamukuta is an application that focuses on improving maternal health during and after pregnancy. It also provides information about immunisation and child nutrition programmes and it monitors childhood development stages and manages illness for registered children under five years old.

The Godobori Patient Record Management System is a web-based application designed to assist palliative care providers in record keeping, data management, and reporting and is tailored to low-resourced regions.

Tambira Utano provides patients with a system for managing disease on a day-to-day basis with reminders, notifications and coaching to keep them confident, healthy and on track with their treatment plans.

My Health allows users to record their medical information, including their family’s medical history, medical service providers such as pharmacies and medical aid societies.

And Chiremba is a search engine for health-related issues that supports native Zimbabwean languages including Shona, Ndebele and English.

So, from cloud-based apps that generate and share medical information to personal apps that help patients regulate and chart their health treatments, each presents a real opportunity to cure the kinds of mismanagement and misinformation that have led to so many preventable deaths.

With the world literally at our fingertips, Southern Africans have got both the skills and the technology to present the world with life saving digital innovations, and that can make all the difference in the years ahead.