Tech can revolutionise health care in Africa
SUB-SAHARAN Africa is expected to become home to one in three people by the end of the century with a rapidly growing population and some impressive economic growth statistics. Currently, the region’s population is over 1 billion with more people living on a wage less than $2 (about R37) per day than anywhere else in the world. With higher mortality rates for women and children, lack of access to infrastructure and medication, and the high cost of medication, Africa needs smart interventions to overcome the barriers to health-care access and adoption.
Technology has immense potential to help countries across the continent resolve the complexities that come with health care across vast distances and income brackets. For example, research has found that there aren’t enough health-care workers to adequately provide health-care support and care to people in Africa. Research by the World Health Organization (WHO) highlighted how in South Africa, for example, there are not enough health workers needed to deliver quality care.
This is made even more complex when looked at through the lens of distance – health-care workers and patients have to travel huge distances to receive basic care. While focusing on increasing the number of health workers should remain a priority, technology could be used to connect patients to practitioners regardless of distance. Telemedicine platforms allow for health-care practitioners to undertake remote consultations with patients.
It’s a powerful emerging healthtech solution for good reason – patients don’t have to travel vast distances to access care and practitioners can swiftly assess their needs and ensure they get the treatment they need.
Mobile health (mHealth) has also evolved within this space as it allows for practitioners to stay in touch with patients in remote areas without the need for a physical appointment.
Using mobile devices, practitioners can send SMS-based reminders and educational messages that enable preventative care and improve the management of disease.
Africa also faces a high disease burden. HIV/Aids, malaria, tuberculosis, a high infant and mother mortality rate, and other diseases such as diabetes and cancer, all contribute to a disease burden that accounts for 24% worldwide, even though the continent only houses 17% of the world’s population.
This particular challenge is compounded by a massive lack of access to affordable medication and public sector financial limitations. Here, solutions that rely on improved data management, access to health care and faster diagnoses can radically reimagine the African health-care situation.
AI is proving its potential to reduce the cost of drugs across the continent while supporting the public sector’s focus on overcoming legacy healthcare challenges.
The use of innovative and intelligent technology can also be used to reimagine the current holes in patient records which affect accurate healthcare and patient management.
By promoting better data management and information sharing through Electronic Health Records (EHR), health-care systems can improve continuity of care and decision-making.
The same can be applied to revisiting the supply chain and healthcare training as technology platforms improve access, optimise stock management, and improve data management and control.
That said, there remain challenges to the implementation of healthtech solutions in Africa.