This post is in collaboration with the Harvard Chan Africa Health Students Forum.
The session on health startups exemplified the conference theme. This session was moderated by Yacine Fall, a graduate of Harvard’s School of Public Health, the Founder of HYVE, and a Fellow at Bloomberg Associates. We heard from 4 individuals who have startups that help to ensure people can access healthcare services. Some common themes from each of the speakers were how their startup was driven by personal experience and the importance of data.
$1 for Primary Health Services in Guinea
The first panelist was Nasser Diallo the Founder of Clinic+O, which aims to close the gap between patients and physicians in Guinea. The goal of Clinic+0 is to “treat community within the community” by using community health workers given that few physicians are present in the country. This occurred from his experiences traveling with his dad to access medical services. This was a challenge for his father and many individuals in Guinea.
Nasser shared some of his challenges starting his company with the first telehealth model as there funding issues and people preferred in-person care options, rather than virtual ones. Advice Nasser shared, is that if you are trying to build a company in Francophone Africa, it is better to use a pay-as-you-go model, rather than a subscription-based model.
He also shared how he charges $1 for services that people need recognizing that you should pay for health services and it does not need to be very expensive.
To learn more about Clinic+O, click here to visit their website.
"The goal of Clinic+0 is to “treat community within the community”
Accessing Financing for Health Products in Nigeria
The second panelist was Sulav Singh the Founder of Vittas International, who discussed sustainable financing in Nigeria. The main goal of this start-up is to provide sustainability to ensure that people can access their needed healthcare products. They provide loans so that hospitals and pharmacies can purchase better equipment and medication which improves health access. One of the biggest challenges Sulvav shared was the lack of credit data in Nigeria which led most banks not to give loans.
Advice Sulav shared was the importance of experiencing the market where you want to create the startup. This requires going beyond the knowledge gained from Western institutions and experiencing the market to make decisions.
To learn more about Vittas, click here to visit their website.
"This requires going beyond the knowledge gained from Western institutions and experiencing the market to make decisions."
Bringing Healthcare to Rural and Underserved Communities in Ghana
The third panelist was Osei Boateng Founder of OKB Foundation. The main goal of OBK Foundation is to bring healthcare to rural and underserved communities in Ghana. This is done by using a van that can go to rural communities to provide primary care to patients. This reduces their travel times to access healthcare services, a key service that is offered is lab diagnostics which usually requires travel to larger cities to access. This start-up tackles the human resource gap as not many individuals want to work in rural areas.
This start-up also arose from a personal experience of Osei as a grandparent and gone to the hospital and a physician was not available. This highlighted the importance of preventative care and ensuring that a health situation does not get worse, and is prevented in the first place. This is the difference between public health and medicine, as public health is preventative and looks at ways to prevent illnesses while medicine is all about treating individuals.
Osei shared a challenge that was faced. There was no policy around mobile clinics, although people wanted to do inspections. There is currently work being done to develop this policy in addition to ensuring these kinds of preventative services are covered in the health insurance.
Osei reminded us that startups are the future and governments should allow for policies and infrastructure to support start-ups.
To learn more about OBK Foundation, click here to visit their website.
"The main goal of OBK Foundation is to bring healthcare to rural and underserved communities in Ghana."
Providing Cheap High-Quality Medicines in Kenya
The fourth panelist was Natasha Mathur Director of Data at Maisha Meds. Natasha shared how the organization provides high-quality medicines in Kenya. Maisha Meds is an Android app used in peri-urban and more rural areas. The app takes orders and is connected with local pharmacies to deliver care such as pills and contraceptives. Maisha Meds ensures that people who purchase pharmaceuticals, actually need them by first testing for disease, to ensure people are following the correct protocol.
Another area of focus is sexual and reproductive health. As emergency contraceptives are used at a high rate, the pharmacy encourages the use of use long-lasting contraceptives as an alternative method. The app provides benefits to pharmacies as they know their inventory and when things will expire and the app can also function when the internet is down. The app also has benefits to patients as it provides reliable affordable treatment for HIV, contraceptives, and malaria.
Maisha Meds operates in Nigeria, Uganda, Zambia, and Tanzania and it has field staff and works with religious and community leaders who help to spread the word about facilities.
Natasha concluded by reminding us that start-ups are solutions as there are a lot of market gaps while start-ups have more local knowledge. Also, sometimes governments are not ready to use artificial intelligence and have innovative solutions that start-ups are willing to use.
To learn more about Maisha Meds, click here to visit the website.
"Maisha Meds ensures that people who purchase pharmaceuticals, actually need them by first testing for disease, to ensure people are following the correct protocol."
While you want to create your start-up, remember that startups will not fix all health issues but they can reduce service gaps. They also hold a special place to drive the gap between healthcare access and patients.