Digital health pioneer Medic announces record number of users as new film exploring health inequity premieres
A new film produced for Medic by BBC Storyworks Commercial Productions highlights how community health workers are using digital health apps to deliver care as Medic, a technology nonprofit, reports that global users of its tech have surpassed 130,000.
The film follows the story of Maureen Akomo Wauda, a mother-of-two in Migori County, Kenya. Maureen is a government community health worker, supported by Lwala Community Alliance.
Maureen uses Kenya’s national electronic Community Health Information System (eCHIS) app to deliver healthcare. eCHIS is powered by the Community Health Toolkit, open-source software stewarded by Medic. A group of partners including Medic, Living Goods, and Lwala Community Alliance, supported the Kenyan government to develop eCHIS, with and for community health workers.
As Maureen explains in the film, the eCHIS app supports her in caring for 133 households – from following up on appointments and vaccinations to monitoring expectant and new mothers. This is of critical importance in a country like Kenya, where maternal mortality increased by 9.7 percent from 2017 to 2020 (UNICEF).
Research shows that community health workers – when trained, supervised, supplied, and paid – have immense potential to improve health service utilization, and hence health outcomes, in underserved communities. In Migori County, where Maureen works, professional community health workers have helped increase immunization uptake by 15 percent and four or more antenatal care visits by 14 percent (Lwala Community Alliance).
Explaining the benefit of integrating technology into healthcare delivery, Maureen says: “I don’t want my community to be left behind. I need some support in order to make this community healthy. eCHIS helps me because all the information is stored there. So when I go to the household, it leads me on what to do. I can provide better care.”
Nekesa Were, Medic’s Director of Community who is also featured in the film, explains: “Right now, 4.5 billion people cannot access essential healthcare services. But around the world, community health workers like Maureen are bridging these gaps to make sure families in underserved communities are looked after. Thanks to committed individuals like Maureen, there is hope.
“It’s so important to work with them when we build these digital health tools because they understand their pain points and their needs.”
Medic CEO, Dr. Krishna Jafa, adds that Maureen is emblematic of the growing number of health workers being professionalized thanks, in part, to digital advancements.
“We are delighted to see an increasing number of countries looking to strengthen their health systems by professionalizing digitally-enabled community health workers to deliver exceptional community care.
“Professionalized community health workers can reduce child mortality by 75 percent and maternal mortality by 60 percent. They deserve the right support: strong training, ongoing guidance, fair pay, and a well-coordinated healthcare system behind them. As Nekesa says in the film, how can we not support that?”
Watch the film: www.medic.org/maureen
Contact:
Sarah Graham
Communications Manager, Medic
+44 (0) 7803 094 154
sarah@medic.org
About Medic
Medic is a global nonprofit that advances equitable care and strengthens global community health systems to achieve universal health coverage. Founded in 2010, Medic serves as the technical steward of, and core contributor to, the Community Health Toolkit (CHT), an open-source digital public good specifically developed to improve last-mile health delivery.
About eCHIS Kenya
In Kenya, the electronic Community Health Information System (eCHIS) is owned and led by the Ministry of Health, in collaboration with Lwala Community Alliance, Living Goods and the CHU4UHC platform of partners.
About WHO Foundation
Founded in 2021, the WHO Foundation is an independent Swiss foundation affiliated with, but independent of, WHO to marshal new resources from philanthropists, foundations, businesses, and individuals to support its mission: promote health, keep the world safe, and serve the vulnerable. Learn more: www.who.foundation
About Healthier Together: A Path to a Better World
Healthier Together is a striking online branded series, developed in consultation with the WHO Foundation and produced for them (or for partners) by BBC StoryWorks Commercial Productions. The series explores health challenges and opportunities across the world, spanning cities and villages, hospitals and homes, as people collaborate to achieve the common goal of health for all. The series launches on 4 April 2024. Learn more: http://www.healthiertogetherseries.com/