This article was originally posted on the Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator at Duke (SEAD) website. Click here for the original post.
This Friday is the Duke Symposium on Scaling Innovations in Global Health! We’re excited to be welcoming the SEAD Innovators to Duke campus and giving the community a chance to learn about the exciting work they’re engaged in.
Our last blog post featured innovator attendees with operations in India. This week we’ve highlighted innovators working throughout Africa. We hope that you enjoy learning more about the organizations who will be attending the Symposium.
Changamka is a medical insurance provider that uses mobile technology and smart cards to facilitate the financing of healthcare services for the working poor in Kenya. Their maternity and family health plans allow customers to set aside small amounts of money over time to cover the costs of outpatient services, drug prescriptions, and consultations when health issues arise.
Changamka describes their plan as “the convergence of the 3Ms — M-technology, M-money, and M-health.” They have sold over 3,000 maternity plans and 12,000 family health plans, and hope to scale nationwide in 2014.
Jacaranda Health’s network of hospitals in Nairobi provides comprehensive maternity care at a fifth of the cost of other private hospitals. Jacaranda successfully uses technology interventions to provide the best care to clients. Patients can use mobile pre-payment services before delivery and after leaving the hospital, they can receive customized health tips and scheduling reminders through SMS.
Jacaranda Health’s clinics are located in peri-urban areas on the outskirts of Nairobi, where the maternal mortality ratio is over 700 per 100,000 live births. They have provided care to over 4,000 women at their hospitals and via mobile vans in their first year.
LifeNet International partners with local community health centers to build their medical and administrative capacity through medical and management training, a growth financing loan program, and a pharmaceutical supply program that links rural clinics with regional wholesalers to increase access to medicines.
LifeNet’s partner network includes 43 church-based clinics in 14 provinces across Burundi and hopes to reach over 50% of the country’s 108 health clinics by the end of the year.
North Star Alliance operates a network of “Blue Box” clinics, converting shipping containers to mini-clinics which serve populations with increased health risks such as truck drivers and sex workers, as well as providing primary health care to community members. Their “containerized-approach” is standardized and semi-mobile, allowing for rapid production and deployment.
Penda Health is a healthcare provider in Kenya. Penda was launched in 2011 with the goal of bringing high quality, affordable outpatient healthcare services to low and middle-income women and their families throughout East Africa.
Penda utilizes a unique staffing model and a focused set of services that address key outpatient needs in order to bring down costs and consequently lower the price of services. Innovative marketing strategies and local partnerships allow Penda to establish important relationships with the community that help them successfully integrate into the local health system.
Riders for Health provide transportation solutions for health care workers in rural communities of sub-Sahara Africa. They use their expertise in managing the types of vehicles commonly used by health workers in remote regions of Africa in order to increase vehicle reliability and reduce disruptions in care delivery. Their management includes preventive servicing, driver training, fleet performance data, protective clothing for motorcycle riders, and optional add-ons such as pre-paid fuel plans and route planning.
Sproxil‘s award-winning Mobile Product Authentication™(MPA™) solution empowers consumers against product counterfeiting by using their mobile phones to ensure that they only purchase genuine products. Every year at least 700,000 deaths occur from the use of counterfeit TB and antimalarial drugs. With Sproxil’s system, these deaths can be avoided while also strengthening consumer trust.
Read more about SEAD Innovators here.