The Africa of my dreams

Accelerating Africa's Industrialization: Health Innovation

Africa, the second largest continent in the world has been described as the cradle of ancient civilization but in recent times appears to be some steps behind the rest of the world in development and industrialization.

The potential for Africa’s industrialization is definitely not in doubt, in fact economic observers worldwide have opined that Africa possesses the greatest potential for economic growth in the world especially as regards industrialization and deployment of new technology.

The fact that Africa remains one of the most attractive investment hubs globally is supported by the increasingly young and vibrant population growing at a significant rate. In fact according to statistics, the population of the youth is expected to double in 30 years.
The greatest asset of the African continent is not the precious metals below the ground in countries like Congo,Ghana or South Africa neither is it the the enormous untapped crude oil and natural has reserves in countries like Nigeria and Angola. The greatest asset of our continent is the great mass of young persons and such potential needs to be maximized.

Empowering young persons with quality education as well as ensuring that their general health and wellbeing is protected is a major step in galvanizing the skills and creativity of the youth for the industrialization of the African continent.
The Africa of my dreams can be summarized thus

"An Africa where Africans use their skills and creativity to solve global and local problems while creating enormous wealth with the support of strong political and economic institutions."

Industrialization entails a form of social and economic change in which a society’s economy is transformed from an agrarian, mining or commodity based society to an industrial one that boosts manufacturing, productivity and the service industry with accompanying results of increased GDP, job and wealth creation raises the general standard of living.

Technology remains the major driver of industrialization as seen in the first industrial revolution of the 17th century where new machines like the steam engine were deployed to drive manufacturing. However the next industrial revolution which is the fourth is expected to be driven by digital technology, big data, the internet of things and artificial intelligence.

According to the WHO, health is a state of complete physical, mental and emotional wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity. The importance of health to the productivity of the workforce cannot be over emphasized.

Sickness reduces productivity due to workers been unable to work to full abilities or even staying away from work and it also reduces the quality of life. Increased out of pocket spending on health also has economic effects on individuals and families.
Generally health indices from Africa appear quite alarming. Maternal and infant mortality, various infectious diseases such as malaria, typhoid fever, dysentery, HIV/Aids, tuberculosis etc continue to contribute to a large chunk of deaths on the continent. In addition there is a rising burden of non communicable diseases such as hypertension, diabetes and heart disease. The supply of essential medicines and availability of ultramodern health facilities and equipments remains a challenge and the system of training of health professionals appears to fall short of current trends.
In Africa the road to universal health coverage appears quite tough. Universal health coverage entails where every individual has access to quality healthcare at the right time and at an affordable cost. This requires significant political will and the deployment of health innovation and technology to accelerate the process of its achievement and sustenance.
The current information era makes it easy for technology transfer and ensures that current technological advancements to be deployed and adapted to the African environment. An enabling environment is required to enable health innovation thrive because so many ideas that are capable of transforming the African health system exist and they could be in the form of technology, process, product or service delievery.
Below are some of them.

Mobile Technology backed health insurance for Universal Health coverage
Universal health coverage is probably the most important public health issue today. The major challenge in capturing majority of citizens in the insurance plan is the fact that a vast majority of them are in the informal sector. An easier way to reach them is through mobile technology. The fact that majority of the population now have access to a mobile phone means this could be a suitable way of capturing every family under various health insurance packages. With this citizens pay their insurance premiums based on income bracket just the way they load airtime.

Integrated Patient Information System
An integrated database system that captures all patient information is absolutely necessary. Patients can be assigned unique IDs such that at every level of healthcare their information can be assessed by the various health professionals for medication or past medical history and used to guide therapy decisions.

Mobile App platforms
Globally patients are demanding that they be allowed to take greater responsibility for their health and this informs the relevance of mobile app versions of the information system that makes an individuals medical records available to him in case they need to access health care services for minor illnesses in community pharmacies. This encrypted system can be set up to ensure that only authorized personell can make alterations to the health information even if it is assesible to patients and the caregivers they wish.

Health Professional- Patient Platform
An important extension of the integrated information system is a platform that promotes direct interaction between patients and their health professional especially the physicians and pharmacists even when physical consultation is not possible. This aids constant patient monitoring and produces better outcomes.

Cutting edge technology and Artificial intelligence
One of the integral features of the 4th industrial revolution is the deployment of digital technology, big data and artificial intelligence to solve Heath problems and improve health care delivery and this is a largely untapped area on the continent.
This technology can act as a stop gap for areas that are currently unassesible to trained health professionals and it could also augment the services they provide. Quite understandably robots and machines cannot take the place of human to human interaction in the health system but it can go a long way to improve service delivery especially in the areas of diagnosis, medication dispensing, proper documentation of patient records, patient monitoring and provision of relevant health information to patients.

Web based Applications that connect patients and physicians who are separated by geographical barriers can run on both personal computer and mobile devices. As such such technology based clinics can be set up in areas where health professionals are lacking.

Patient Monitoring for chronic diseases: Most chronic diseases have one thing in common, that is they all require regular monitoring of certain parameters in order to ascertain the effectiveness of treatment. For example a diabetic or hypertensive could use digital wearable devices that monitor vital signs such as blood pressure, breathing rate and blood sugar. This could help keep track of patient progress and guide decisions on adjustment of therapy choices.

Preventive Medicine: Vaccines are very important in preventing common infectious diseases especially in vulnerable groups like children. A central internet tracking system that tracks vaccination programmes in various locations as well as keeping a record of individuals vaccinated can be used to appraise the success of vaccination programmes. This can be interfaced with the central database for patients and this makes it easy to analyse a person’s vaccination history and know which needs to be taken.
This same tracking system can be used to track nutritional products distributed to combat malnutrition in children.
Internet tracking systems can also be used to monitor distribution of government drug/medical equipment supplies to ensure that they are not diverted by unscrupulous persons.
In terms of spreading information about a possible disease outbreak and the steps to be taken by members of the public to protect themselves, internet based alarm systems can be used to get to majority of the population within a very short time.

Training of health Professionals: The current level of technological advancement year on year requires that the application of internet of things and digital technology be incorporated into the curriculum of health professionals so that they can be adequately skilled in deploying the enormous resources of technology to enhance their practice as either physicians, nurses, pharmacists or community health workers.

Written in 2018 as an essay entry for the AFDB Essay Competition