ICT Innovations sure to transform Healthcare delivery in Uganda
The early morning of March 31, 2016; 7:00 am to 12 Noon EAT saw the Vodafone Power Talks 2016-Fourth Edition 2016happen at the Kampala Serena Hotel. Vodafone Uganda reached out to the Makerere UniversitySchool of Public HealthResilientAfrica Network (RAN) to participate in and contribute to the list of participants for the Power Talks. This session which brought together approximately 200 national and international participants (government, the private sector, research organizations, academia, health and ICT sector) was guided by the theme “Improving access and delivery of healthcare through ICT”. The aim is to empower communities.
As participants, the RAN team was part of transformation; seeing the innovations by top brains, systems, applications and gadgets developed in Uganda. “While ICTs have the potential to greatly benefit Uganda’s health sector, their success is dependent on access to affordable data services, connected devices and the development of the required software, platforms and apps to enable access in addition to education of both healthcare professionals and patients on the benefits of m-Health,” Allan Richardson, the Chief Executive Officer Vodafone Uganda noted.
It was also a rich engagement opportunity involving insightful talks, presentations by renowned health experts, App developers and networking for scaling of innovative solutions among others. The panel at these Power Talks constituted Mr. Andrew Lutwama, the eHealth Advisor at the Ministry of Health in Kampala Uganda, Dr. Paul Okello Aliker, the Chief Executive Officer Dental Studio, Mr. Nathan Wasolo, the Route to Market Lead, East Africa, Mr. Alfred Wise, Living Goods Country Director, Mrs. Judy Mugoya, the Smart Applications Country Manager and Ms. Beatrice Bonita Nanziri, Founder AfriGal Tech and mDex and was moderated by Dr. Mitch Egwang, a Business owner, media and events personality as well as a Veterinary Doctor.These shared real life personal experiences/testimonies to innovation, the drive to think outside the box and remain innovative/creative, role of mHealth Innovation in their lives and support offered to innovators and start-ups among others. Presentations were followed by comments, additions, question and answer session engaging the audience in an interactive chat on how all can get involved in supporting innovation to the next level with emphasis to the theme of the day.
Three projects including Matibabu, Macotuba and WinSenga supported by RAN joined the others in the exhibition to further share about their innovations but also receive feedback to additionally inform development. Details about these projects can be accessed here http://www.ranlab.org/innovations/riap-grantees and http://www.ranlab.org/other-innovative-projects
It was a morning filled with rich knowledge generation and sharing while employing the power of visuals. During the networking session, Health practitioners mingled with innovators, students, Government officials, private sector teams, research professionals, academia, ICT experts, entrepreneurs, business experts, venture capitalists, investors among others in support of innovations as ‘Game Changers’ in Uganda, Africa and beyond. Vodafone committed to its efforts to support innovation to scale. Ms. Jackie Namara, Marketing Manager in her closing remarks noted, “Let us join hands like the lady from Makerere University School of Public Health earlier noted to push Innovation to the next level, we need to soon get out of this phase of discussing innovative solutions in such for into actually implementing, further marketing and scaling the solutions for consumption of those in need. Vodafone is open to closely working with all partners to push forth Innovation in an effort to address community challenges in Uganda, Africa and beyond”. She also thanked all participants for honoring the invitation to the Vodafone Power Talks 2016 inviting all to interact with the exhibitors at the event.
Other photos from the event are shared here https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1236833433011355.1073741950.606597569368281&type=3