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Most countries in Southern Africa are increasingly turning to digital health services to handle a shortage of health workers and to better connect with hard-to-reach rural communities. Despite its slow rise, telemedicine can bring relief to areas with inadequate healthcare systems and reduce costs.
Herald Senior Reporter, Rumbidzai Zinyuke (RZ), speaks to Dr Esperance Luvindao (EL) a Namibian medical healthcare practitioner and founder of MENGA Healthcare Technology on how digital health innovations could address critical gaps within SADC health systems. Her organisation participated at the 7th SADC Industrialisation Week showcase.
RZ: Can you tell us briefly about your new digital health innovation?
EL: In 2019, we started offering free medical advice but quickly realised that this did not solve the problem full circle as one would be told that they probably had gonorrhoea, so they still needed to travel to a hospital to get medication. With the rapid spread of internet and phone services throughout Namibia and most other SADC countries we explored the possibility of having health consultations, doctors’ appointments, prescriptions, referrals and payment using SMS messages and other digital platforms. This is how MENGA was birthed. It allows community members in semi-rural areas and suburbs to access prescribed medication without having to travel long distances to see a doctor or access a pharmacy.
RZ: What is the major purpose of this innovation?
EL: The innovation reduces the burden on state hospitals by reducing the number of patients that queue up at hospitals daily. It reduces out of pocket health costs and the number of patients being pushed into poverty annually due to health costs. It also improves the quality of care afforded to patients in semi-rural areas and suburbs by reducing the timeframe from sickness to treatment. In short, it seeks to improve health outcomes for millions that live far from hospitals.
RZ: How does it benefit our rural patients?
EL: Most digital health solutions currently focus on online consultations. Our solution is full circle as it allows patients to not only consult the doctor, but also access their medication in a timely manner with a simple trip to their local supermarket or service station, among others. The WHO reported that about half of the world’s population lack access to essential health services. If your doctor and your prescribed medication are at your fingertips, out of pocket health costs that drive millions into poverty annually are reduced. Our solution also reduces waiting times for patients as the time from consultation to acquiring medication can be as quick as under 45 minutes.
RZ: Given that MENGA is designed to function without the need for the Internet, how does it ensure effective communication and data management in areas with limited connectivity?
EL: The consultation is done via text messaging. The doctor on the opposite end requires the internet to grant the patient access to medication but the patient does not. After the consultation, through finger print scanning, code or ID scanning, the patient can access their medication at a local MENGA situated securely in a supermarket or service station nearby.
RZ: Have you started applying it? If yes, where? How many people have benefited so far?
EL: Menga’s testing was completed successfully at our headquarters. We consulted numerous community members as well as digital health specialists and medical practitioners from around Africa and the consensus is that MENGA has the potential to change the face of the African healthcare system.
RZ: What are some of the major challenges that may affect its roll out? How can the challenges be addressed?
EL: Legislation! Innovations like these speak to the need for legislation and policies that are forward thinking and meet the people at their point of need. We are in need of policies and regulations that allow young African innovators to pilot and scale up their solutions. Telemedicine has also aroused the debate on whether it removes the aspect of human contact. However, when approached from the aspect of augmentation as opposed to replacement, one may find that once we embrace digital health, it stands to benefit both patients and healthcare workers. Millions of patients queue up daily at hospitals, overwhelming the healthcare workforce. Thus, regulated digital health may be the solution to advance quality healthcare while reducing the burden of the traditional way of doing medicine.
RZ: Looking beyond, how do you see this moving, in Namibia, southern Africa and the entire continent?
EL: More than 600 million people in Africa lack access to basic healthcare services. Half the world lacks access to essential health services, 100 million still pushed into extreme poverty because of health expenses. According to the WHO, five children under five years of age die every minute. Two thirds of these deaths can be attributed to preventable causes; about 300 000 die from diarrhoea annually and about 950 000 children die from pneumonia annually in Africa. Digital health is the future of African healthcare. MENGA is a need in a majority of African countries and not a want. We need to get to a place where we start offering standardised quality healthcare irrespective of socioeconomic status and MENGA speaks to that. We are in talks with two other countries for roll out and the possible impact based on preliminary studies is over 10 million people.
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