Dear Listers, Please see below a few examples of e-health projects in Africa which IBM has helped implement. Most of them are through public private partnerships. The technology exists and probably the question is how to we assist the government to implement such solutions in Kenya. 'SMS for Life' project by IBM, Novartis and Vodafone in Tanzania THE PROBLEM: Malaria causes nearly one million deaths in Africa each year, mostly among pregnant women and young children, and many people die because they simply lack quick access to vital medication. THE INNOVATION: A new solution developed by IBM ,Novartis and Vodafone with the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, is helping to save lives using everyday technology to improve the availability of anti-malarial drugs in remote areas of Tanzania Called "SMS for Life," the initiative uses a combination of mobile phones, SMS (Short Messaging Service) technologies and intuitive web sites to track and manage the supply of Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy (ACT) drugs and Quinine injectables, both of which are key to reducing the number of deaths from malaria. RESULTS During the first few weeks of the pilot, the number of health facilities with stock-outs in one district alone, was reduced by over 75% The early success of the SMS for Life pilot project has the Tanzanian authorities interested in implementing the solution across the rest of the country. Project Hope and Comfort - in Cross River State, Nigeria THE PROBLEM: Cross River State suffers from some of the worst child and infant mortality rates in the African region – many from preventable, treatable causes. 250 out of every 1000 children in the state die before reaching the age of five. Two-thousand out of every 100,000 women die during child birth. INNOVATION Projects Hope and Comfort depend on the mass registration of citizens for free healthcare and financial support Working with government departments, healthcare workers and local IBM business partner, they have been able to bring to bear IBM's global expertise in advanced technologies such as biometric identification systems and solar energy to increase the efficiency, reliability, accuracy of the systems. THE OUTCOME: To date, around 130,000 mothers and children have registered to receive free healthcare through project Hope and another 5,600 families have registered for financial support through project Comfort. Goal to reduce child and maternal mortality rates by 50% by the end of 2011 and halve the number of people living in abject poverty by 2015. Kind Regards Maureen Muthua 2nd Floor, Africa Re Center (Embedded image moved to file: pic13234.gif) Territory Hospital Rd, Upper Hill, P.O. Marketing and Box 35475 00200 Communications Manager IBM East Nairobi, KENYA Africa Phone: +254 20 2834 000 Mobile: +254 722 740 884 e-mail: maureenm@ke.ibm.com From: "Victor Gathara" <vgathara@vimak.co.ke> To: Maureen Muthua/Kenya/IBM@IBMZA Cc: "'KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions'" <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Date: 2011/06/03 02:54 PM Subject: Re: [kictanet] Of Vision 2030 and Misplaced Priorities Sent by: kictanet-bounces+maureenm=ke.ibm.com@lists.kictanet.or.ke While in DFiD I got involved in a project with WHO to help MOMS come up with a eHealth strategy. Sad to have left without seeing the final document but I basically came to question the level of buy in from government for this. A couple of years ago an AfriHealth conference basically concluded that there was a lot of silo working and ‘pilotitis’ in this field. It would be good to see whether the strategy was ever completed and launched. I believe a lister led in drafting it. There is a lot that can be done with IT in health if the will is there but you need the structures in place first. Victor From: kictanet-bounces+vgathara=vimak.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke [ mailto:kictanet-bounces+vgathara=vimak.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of Edith Adera Sent: 02 June 2011 22:29 To: vgathara@vimak.co.ke Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: Re: [kictanet] Of Vision 2030 and Misplaced Priorities Very sad indeed! I was faced with the same problem in March and the poor lady died right before our eyes - her relatives called me when it was too late and they did not have a cent to take her to hospital, so they feared even going there without money! I was surprised to learn that even Kenyatta hospital does not take any patient without money! I was so sad to face the reality thatyou can die justbecause you are poor and not because there's no treatment for your illness. In his recent experience with cancer, Hon. Anyang Nyongodrovethis point home! BUT - if a Minister for Health can say this, what chance does a mere mortal have to live? There are many examples of eHealth initiatives thathave saved lives e.g. Uganda Health information Network, Mozambique Health Information Network,pulsa plus HIV/AIDs project in South Africa using cellphones, cell life in South Africaetc Edith ________________ Edith Ofwona Adera Senior Program Specialist ICT4D Program and Climate Change & Water Program International Development Research Centre | Centre de recherches pour le développement international Regional Office for Eastern and Southern Africa Tel: +254202713160 | Fax/Téléc: +254202711063 | Skype: edithadera eadera@idrc.or.ke | www.idrc.ca | www.crdi.ca From: kictanet-bounces+eadera=idrc.or.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke [kictanet-bounces+eadera=idrc.or.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of Barrack Otieno [otieno.barrack@gmail.com] Sent: 02 June 2011 13:22 To: Edith Adera Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: [kictanet] Of Vision 2030 and Misplaced Priorities Dear Listers, I wonder whether i have used the right title for this post. I have had an interesting month and i thought i should share some of my experiences from the Bundus and the City as well. Three weeks ago i visit Ebuyangu Village somewhere between Gem and Emuhaya to look for my childhood football coach, while combing the area i meet one resident by the name Harambee who gleefully agrees to help me find my former coach. I asked him some of the challenges they are facing and was taken aback by his answer 'Watu wanakufa sana, sijui ni nini' (Translated There are too many deaths, i don't know what is happening) I tried squeezing more information from him and realised the problem is Malaria and waterbone diseases (of course there is River Yala in the hood), it is common knowledge that this are Malaria prone areas and many of us who hail from the region take preventive measures before travelling but it appears this information is simply not readily available to the villages, how can we prevent this unnecessary and avoidable deaths through ICT? do we have developement partners and or government agencies prepared to invest in e-health initiatives that will reverse this trends? or better still are all this noble initiatives and flagship projects targeting Nairobians (where the real Kenya is?) no wonder everyone is fleeing the countryside to be close to the city, we might end up building Malili Technolopolis and lack customers for the same as has been the case in the past, it is good we are boasting and fighting about Mobile money, 3G and the rest which is good but i guess the greatest wealth a nation can ever have are healthy citizens. On 1st of June i find myself in another weird situation involving health facilities we have an emergency case which several health Facilities say they cannot handle but instead of advising on what we should do they advise us to run around and look for options, the saddest bit is this are respected health facilities that have 'professional' Doctors and Nurses, to cut the long story, proffessionals hoarding information on what we should do so that we can do something (what a shame on this great republic), i was left wondering where does the poor man go, he may as well just die in his little hut because he doesn't know what to do. When i looked at the bill and compared it to the service rendered your guess is as good as mine. I wonder whether its a high time we channeled the same effort and investment we have made in Mobile Money, BPOs and Fibre into Electronic Health, anyone with successfull case studies to start us off, othewise we might all be swept away by an epidemic before we Vision 2030 materialises. -- Barrack O. Otieno Afriregister Ltd (Kenya) www.afriregister.bi, www.afriregister.com ICANN accredited registrar +254721325277 +254-20-2498789 Skype: barrack.otieno _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/maureenm%40ke.ibm.com The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. 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