Stephen Enoch
For years, eHealth Africa (eHA) has been at the forefront of transforming healthcare delivery in Nigeria. eHA is a Non-Governmental Organisation that works on building stronger health systems through data-driven solutions.
According to the organization, it is committed to enhancing health and empowering underserved communities to achieve better health outcomes.
With a focus on Africa, it sets new benchmarks in healthcare delivery and emergency response by integrating information, technology, and logistics.
A project manager with the organization, Tahir Buhari speaks exclusively with Stallion Times on the eHA’s groundbreaking initiatives and the strides made in improving public health in Kano state and Nigeria.
How has eHA contributed to improving public health in Kano?
When it comes to public health in Kano and Nigeria, one of the biggest achievements that we’ve ever had is supporting in eradicating polio.
We were one of the projects that we had was the Vaccinator Tracking System (VTS) project, which is a tracking system project whereby we were essentially verifying, communities that were consistently left out or missed, with vaccination and health care services.
We were able to use that system to support the country in eradicating polio both in Kano state and Nigeria.
In 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Nigeria polio-free, and eHA was a core part of that, I would say probably that was the biggest achievement that we’ve had in improving public health in the state
I say this because eradicating any disease from any geographical region takes consistent effort, consistent programming, consistent change management, and all is towards improving public health.
Read more: eHealth Africa, NPHCDA Deploy GIS to Fight Against Vaccine-Derived Polio
How do you engage local communities to ensure effective interventions?
Engaging local communities is a very important aspect of the work and we engage communities from the pre-project.
When designing and thinking about solutions that are going to address underserved communities or underserved needs, we make sure that when designing, we do our stakeholder mapping and confirm that the solution that we are proposing is going to meet the needs of the community.
This is so because that’s where the developed world sometimes tends to get a little bit wrong when proffering a solution or bringing an intervention to a community.
When bringing intervention into a community, we certify that the problem we want to solve is what the community wants to be addressed because sometimes when you bring a solution to a community that isn’t top of their priorities, it might just be a futile effort.
This is why during the design phase, we engage with the local community to make sure that we are touching the right nodes and touching the right blockers to address that challenge.
Between 2014 to 2016, we carried out a Vaccine Direct Delivery (VDD) with Kano state whereby, eHealth Africa was delivering vaccines across almost more than 600 healthcare facilities.
In carrying out that project, we engaged the local communities to ensure its effectiveness and when we transitioned the project back to the state, the vaccine delivery was sustained till now.
So what are some of the challenges you have faced and how are you able to overcome them?
So one of the challenges that we have faced over time is in the aspect of human resources, or the capacity to design solutions that are fit for context as we seek to address certain challenges in communities, especially when leveraging technology.
So there exists the challenge of finding the right talent and finding the right people who can come together to build a workable solution.
So in solving that challenge, we started an academy that will build the capacity of our local youth in software development, so that we can leverage on the local talent that we have to address local needs.
If you have somebody who understands the community that is locally based, you know, the solution will tend to be more sophisticated, more comprehensive, and will touch the issues that you need to solve.
Read more: 23 Students Graduate From eHealth Africa Academy
So what are your key priorities in the coming years?
One of the things that the organization is doing going forward is to engage with the media to showcase some of the work that we’re doing, and to let people know that we are here we are ready to collaborate.
We are ready to bring value if there are areas where communities think we can support we are ready.
One of the key focus for us would be to ensure that we are showcasing all of the good work that we are doing and we are looking forward to collaborating more with the government, communities as well as partners that are responsible for driving, access to care.
How do you leverage Information technology (IT) to do your work, especially in local communities?
We essentially design data-driven solutions that address unmet needs. All the solutions that we are talking about are geared towards driving solutions to the problems that communities are facing.
We have designed applications for immunization supply chains. For example, we have an app called LoMIS, which is a logistics management information system, and basically, the application is meant to support, an expanded program on immunizations to manage the immunization supply chain.
Essentially it aids in managing the delivery of medical products from the state to healthcare facilities, monitoring the inventory of the products, to reporting, stockouts. This is a modern tool that can be used to manage work streams.
How did eHA contribute to reducing cases during the Covid-19 pandemic?
During the Covid-19 outbreak, eHealth Africa supported about 12 states in Nigeria with cold chain equipment, whereby we deployed modern new generation cold chains that are smart,
These cold chains aid health facility personnel to understand what is happening within the environment. So one of the coaches that we deployed was called Meta Fridge, and it’s a new generation cooled chain that can keep vaccines safe for five days without power.
And likewise, that particular coaching equipment has remote monitoring. So for example, during the COVID-19 outbreak, we had about 130 Cold Chain, these meta fridges deployed into 12 states and with lockdown and all of that, I was able to personally monitor the performance of more than 130 fridges in 12 states in Nigeria.
There’s so much great information that you can get with remote monitoring systems. That was one of the projects that I handled.
We are trying to showcase these kinds of technologies to states across the country because, in the end, eHA is not going to manage the immunization supply chain for Nigeria. At some point we need to take ownership of our country we need to figure out the shape of all of this data and all of these tools embedded within our systems.
So while organizations like us can propose solutions that can address certain challenges, government and communities must take ownership as well, to try to sustain those initiatives after interventions have been made.
What should the government do, to further strengthen health systems in the country?
Increasing by a significant amount, the number of software developers in the country will open up opportunities for transforming the health sector of the country.
If that is done, it means that the government will open so many opportunities for us to be able to use local talent to address local needs. So that’s one of the things that I would say we need to see more from the government, you know, trying to build local capacity in addressing local needs,
We cannot continue to rely on foreign help or support or foreign aid to address our problem. We need government to be able to build local talent that can address our problems.
eHA’s recent IT-driven solutions in healthcare delivery
Data Portal: An open access platform to the geospatial data we have collected over the years that can inform public health and data for good interventions and programs.
Planfeld: A web-based application that helps you plan and monitor field logistics for public health interventions.
BISKIT: The Blood Information System for Crisis Intervention and Management (BISKIT) is a digital solution that contributes to assuring a sufficient amount of safe and quality-assured blood and blood products before, during, and after a crisis.
VaxTrac VaxTrac: It is a clinic-based vaccination registry system that health workers can use in the field to enroll children and track their immunization records. It eliminates the need for paper-based cohort books, tally sheets, and monthly reporting forms and improves health workers’ accuracy and efficiency.
LoMIS Suite: A suite of applications that provide critical supply chain solutions that address health commodity availability, and vaccine management challenges and enable broader health system policy decisions at the state level and national level.
Kano Connect: Kano Connect is an innovative health systems strengthening tool that facilitates improved communication and information flow across all levels to increase coverage of health services across target populations.
CornBot: CornBot is being developed to combat the devastating effect of the Fall Armyworm(FAW) pest destroying farm produce across Africa. It is a multilingual, audio-visual mobile application that farmers interact with their local language – to help DETECT, PREVENT, CONTROL, and MANAGE fall armyworm (FAW) on their farms.
Through their data-driven approach and dedication to addressing local needs, eHealth Africa has emerged as a pivotal force in advancing public health initiatives, empowering communities, and ultimately enhancing the well-being of individuals across the nation.
