Social Issue

In many countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, health care systems have a low number of doctors, so primary care is normally carried out by nurses or health care technicians. This situation makes it difficult to obtain a proper medical diagnosis, leading to a lack of positive outcomes in primary care centres, and consequently leading to a high proportion of referrals to hospitals and patients having to travel long-distances to get adequate medical attention.

Our Response

One of the goals of Oshen is to implement telemedicine practices as solutions for health centres in Africa, providing access to a general practitioner or specialist to the entire population for early diagnosis of diseases and to reduce overcrowding in hospitals. Using digital monitoring instruments of pediatric and generic remote access in the form of “suitcase”, the centres can communicate with doctors and specialists from referral hospitals.

This loan is intended to finance the telemedicine suitcases and staff training for three pilot studies in Rwanda, Morocco, and Angola. The aim is to see if telemedical services can provide better-quality medical care to communities that do not normally have access to such medical services.

Expected Social Impact

All studies will measure the number of visits, diagnoses, referrals from clinics to urban hospitals, and the savings in medical expenses of patients who receive the service.