4 ways tech can boost Africa’s health problems

Johannesburg - What can information technology do to boost the health of African populations?

Some suggestions that emerged during a panel discussion at African Innovator magazine’s Round Tables Healthcare Innovation Summit, held in Johannesburg on 19 August include:

1. Develop an app which would enable patients to check whether a drug is genuine or counterfeit, suggests Aflu Med healthcare CEO Lubabalo Mnyaka. Around 30% of drugs in Africa are counterfeit, and that poses dangers to patients, since counterfeit drugs may not be effective and may contain actively dangerous ingredients.

2. Use mobile technology to manage diseases of lifestyle. Dr Maggie Mojapelo (CEO Mediwell) is using this tool to do just that with South Africans who are “employed but uninsured”, she says.

3. Push education via cell phones to the patients, suggests Judy Varndell, in healthcare at Deloitte & Touche. “If you don’t understand your condition, you aren’t able to manage it.”

4. Use crowd-funding online to raise funds for research in health, suggests Varndell.