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Delivering for health workers
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In Q4 of 2016, Medic Mobile trained and equipped 3,793 new health workers (126% more than in Q4 of last year). Driven by expansion in 7 countries, we reached roughly 3x as many new health workers in Q4 compared to Q3.
We also delivered new use cases and tools to 646 health workers in our existing network. Altogether, we delivered new tools and use cases to 4,439 health workers in Africa and Asia within three months.
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Medic Mobile teammates gathered for a product workshop in Nairobi
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Our product team has significant achievements to report! We put out a major release that revolutionizes the way users can interact with our tools. This version of our software also allows our SMS tools and new app workflows to be deployed together, helping health workers work together as a team to deliver care. For example, a community health worker can send and receive information about a pregnant woman by SMS, a nurse can be guided through an antenatal care visit for the same woman at the health facility using our app, and both health workers can be automatically updated on key events or missed visits.
Users of our app on Android also got a big boost last quarter when we switched to Crosswalk, allowing us to use the latest Chromium browser technology. This provides a more reliable environment for developing our app and improves performance. We also contributed important code back to the open-source Crosswalk project. Medic Mobile's app on Android now has unlimited storage, opening up more possibilities for longitudinal care and support for different types of users.
Finally, we held the largest team meetup in our organization's history, with 30 teammates gathering in Nairobi for a product training. In December, our distributed development team met in San Francisco to plan for an exciting year ahead.
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A community health worker and supervisor in Mali review a performance dashboard together
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Medic Mobile has partnered with Muso in Mali to support community health workers (CHWs) in their high-impact Proactive Care program with a mobile app. Muso’s model inserts a dedicated cadre of CHW Supervisors, who provide each CHW with intensive supervision and feedback sessions based on Muso’s 360 Supervision model. In the 360 Supervision process, dedicated supervisors review and support CHW performance from multiple angles, by shadowing CHWs during visits, performing patient audits, and providing individualized performance feedback to each CHW.
The app supports CHWs in real-time via smartphone to improve patient outcomes, functioning offline as they visit patients in rural areas. Using a smart task list, it directs the CHW to the people who need his or her help, provides information about the patient or family, notes the due date for the task, and gives the CHW a step-by-step guide for the action. The app supports CHWs as they take different actions, such as registering a new pregnancy and screening for danger signs, or assessing childhood illnesses and providing treatment. Using targets within the application, CHWs can monitor the progress that he or she is making towards certain goals.
All of the data from the mobile app will be visualized in a unique, 360-degree performance management dashboard, showing speed, quantity, and quality metrics for each CHW. This data will help Muso improve the care provided to patients. We completed our first training with Muso's health workers last quarter, and by February of 2017, Medic’s mobile app will be deployed to all CHWs in the program. This coming year, Muso will launch seven new sites and care for 300,000 patients through door-to-door visits, in-home treatment, and clinic care. We are excited to continue this high-impact partnership as Muso expands its work, bringing high-quality care to the hardest-to-reach places.
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Fred Hollows Foundation in Rolpa District, Nepal
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A Female Community Health Volunteer (FCHV) in Rolpa practices using the referral system
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The population of Nepal is approximately 29 million, and it is estimated that each year, around 466,385 people in Nepal need eye treatment. Due to a lack of trained professionals and eye care centres in rural areas, many Nepalis are unable to access basic eye care services. The Fred Hollows Foundation (FHF) and the Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology (TIO) have worked together for over 20 years to improve the eye health infrastructure of Nepal. Founded by ophthalmologists Fred and Gabi Hollows in 1993, FHF strives to eliminate avoidable blindness around the world and has restored sight to over 2 million people in more than 25 countries. TIO, a leading eye care non-profit, has been delivering eye care services in remote areas in Nepal through regular outreach micro-surgical eye clinics (OMECs), screening camps and Community Eye Centres (CECs). Last year, Medic Mobile partnered with the Fred Hollows Foundation to launch their first-ever mHealth project in Nepal.
We launched a SMS based referral system with 24 village development committees (VDCs) in one of the most remote districts, Rolpa. We trained 257 female community health volunteers (FCHVs) who are local women trained to provide community health services in their own villages. Each one of the FCHVs serves around 50 households. FCHVs do a simple eye test and refer potential patients to the nearest CEC by sending structured SMS through their feature phones. The referral system registers the potential patient in Medic Mobile’s system, and each potential patient is assigned a unique ID and a referral slip to present at the community health centre. Staff at the CEC then track and follow up with the patients to ensure they receive the care that they need. We’re grateful to FHF for their support of this important project. For more information about the partnership, check out our blog.
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We are excited to welcome Sudip Pokhrel as Director of Partnerships for Asia. Sudip has worked in public health since 2003. Before joining Medic Mobile, he was the lead adviser for health policy and planning at Ministry of Health in Nepal. He supported the Ministry to develop the Nepal Health Sector Strategy 2015-2020 and recently drafted the National eHealth Strategy for Nepal. He has also worked with international agencies, including WHO and UNICEF, to strengthen their partnerships with the government.
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Medic Mobile has several new job openings, including Interaction Designer and Tech Leads in East Africa and Francophone Africa. Thank you for helping us spread the word!
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