Uganda

We help

webadmin — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 10:22:31 +0000

We help webadmin Wed, 09/23/2020 - 12:22

An interactive voice response system platform that will help women of childbearing age easily access family planning services by describing to them the benefits and likely costs of the chosen contraceptives; using their preferred language while linking them to the nearest health facility.

Introduction

We Help’s interactive voice response system was designed to help adolescents aged 15-19 and the youth aged 18-35 who want to get the right information on contraceptives in their preferred languages by providing to them confidential and real time information through a toll free number and instilling into them the rightful information on contraceptives and directing them to the nearest equipped health facility.

The idea is leveraging existing interactive voice response system to avail the rightful information in different preferred languages and directions to the nearest equipped health facility in order to eliminate the stigma that has greatly reduced the use of contraceptives in Uganda.

Adolescents and youth fear talking about contraception because sex is secret and most people do not want to talk about it. Currently, they’re getting information directly from the health personnel, but if we offer confidentiality and real-time information in their preferred language, we’ll observe better expression of concerns on contraceptives. The We Help Team has designed an IVR system platform to be used by adolescents and youth to access family planning services.

Progress and Results

Experiments have been focused on further improving the IVR prototype with intent on testing the user experience to determine whether the target beneficiaries are comfortable and able to use the service on their own. The experiment also revealed that translation into local languages requires more work.

Needs Assessment: The conducted a discovery on whether young adolescents aged 15-19 can easily access phones to use our interactive voice response system. They wanted to find out if the adolescent and youth are comfortable talking to a machine rather than getting the information from the community or health personnel. They learnt that some adolescents can not access phones because they are at school and phones are not allowed; most times calls are forwarded but you are not attended to and most youth fear expressing themselves in public.
Youth working through the IVR workflow on their own. This experiment was to discover the ability of the end-user to easily navigate the provided mobile number to access information on contraceptives & also the effectiveness of the call forwarding option in the IVR system platform in relation to access of information on contraceptives:
Testing the experience of adolescents and youths accessing our IVR system on a toll-free number.

Challenges and Lessons Learnt

Feature vs smartphone usage- Most young people have more feature phones than smartphones which affected how participants interact with the application.

Translation challenges- Possible partnerships with the ministry of health would solve the translation challenge because the Ministry of Health does translations of health related messages into local languages

File Upload

WeHelp Fact Sheet.pdf

Unity and Prosperity Medical Center

webadmin — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 10:12:55 +0000

Unity and Prosperity Medical Center webadmin Wed, 09/23/2020 - 12:12

An antenatal care service provider that will help expectant mothers living in refugee communities access safe delivery services within their community to solve the problem of long distances to the nearest health facilities through establishment of mobile antenatal clinics

Introduction

UPMCs social mission is to provide accessible and quality ANC services to expectant mothers within refugee settlements and host community.

The UPMC service is to help expectant mothers aged 18-35 based in refugee settlements who want to attend antenatal care by reducing the high transport cost to a health facility caused by long distances and providing antenatal services closer to them thus enabling safe delivery in the health facilities.

Expectant mothers aged 18-35 live in a refugee settlement that has few health facilities that are distant-12 km apart thus increasing the risk of maternal death. Currently, the expectant mothers are walking long distances to visit health facilities for Antenatal Care visits and hiring motorcycles which are expensive. If we reduced transport costs through providing low-cost mobile antenatal care services in multiple locations closer to the expectant mothers and thereafter referring them to equipped health facilities for specialized treatment then we'll observe increased follow up ANC visits and reduced maternal deaths within the settlements.

Progress and Results

Needs Assessment: From the experiment, 654 community members attended the session with 126 expectant mothers and teenage girls (18 year olds) in attendance who participated to acquire more knowledge. The experiment target sed distant settlements to address the challenges affecting expectant mothers. There was one labour bed in the settlement camp; Few health workers in settlements; the Ambulance doesn’t respond to medical emergencies with urgency and Some expectant mothers do not want to go to the health facilities because of language barrier
Provision of Antenatal Care Services: Through this experiment, the team wanted to learn whether the antenatal initiative limited proposed services like; malaria, syphilis and HIV screening, abdominal and general examination, health and nutrition education and referral etc will be achieved through support of VHTs who conduct activities not limited to identifying and mapping and mobilization among others
They’re also discovering if the bicycle/motor bike as transportation means would enable us access our clients easily and reduce the cost of implementation. By this, they hope to be in position to offer last mile accessible and quality ANC care and basic healthcare to the within and without community.

Challenges and Lessons Learnt

The long distance covered by the expecting mothers from their homes to the health facilities, expensive health care services, limited knowledge on the value of Antenatal Care Services to mention but a few have been the biggest barriers to the work the team is doing.

Poker Card

webadmin — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 10:03:35 +0000

Poker Card webadmin Wed, 09/23/2020 - 12:03

A card book that will promote inclusiveness by helping deaf women and youths acquire primary Health care knowledge on HIV/AIDs through graphics, illustrations and images that can be understood by the deaf.

Introduction

PokerCard is helping deaf persons aged 10 – 35 years who want to seek primary Healthcare knowledge on HIV/AIDS by providing graphic illustrations to enable them interpret HIV/AIDS awareness messages and achieving health inclusiveness.

Sexually active deaf persons (aged 13 – 35 years) in the greater Northern Uganda are having difficulties in interpreting HIV/AIDS awareness messages. Currently, they’re using sign language interpreters, but PokerCard is offering a simplified and easy – to – understand graphic illustrations which is making both the illiterate and literate deaf persons to even further understand and interpret HIV/AIDS awareness messages. This is promoting access to equitable primary healthcare information regarding HIV/AIDS.

Progress and Results

The team has held various experiments with the deaf community within Kitgum to help them understand their needs in regards to accessing and interpreting information on HIV/AIDS before they can scale their solution

Needs Assessment: We want to learn whether deaf persons understand HIV/AIDS preventive information given to them in graphics illustrations. Results from the experiment reveal that 8 out of 10 deaf adults were able to accurately interpret the graphic illustrations; 5 out of 10 deaf children were able to interpret the graphic illustrations and Youth aged 17-37 have better pictorial interpretation compared to children below 17 years
Graphic interpretation by deaf people: The purpose of this experiment was to discover whether deaf persons aged 17 years and above can interpret HIV/AIDS information presented in graphic visuals. The participants were able to interpret the HIV/AIDS messages presented in graphic illustrations with an average of 83% of the participants interpreting the graphic illustrations for the four thematic areas of; Limiting the number of sexual partners, getting tested and knowing your partner’s HIV status, using a condom correctly every time you have sex, and avoiding sharing sharp instruments like; shavers, razor blades, toothbrush, injection needles.
Testing HIV/AIDS knowledge in the control group (hearing people who associates with deaf person): Through this experiment, the team wanted to want to learn about the HIV/AIDS knowledge gap among the hearing people who associates with Deaf person (control group). On average, the participants were able to score over the pass mark of 50% implying that the hearing people who associate with deaf person will have a wider knowledge on HIV/AIDS because of the intense verbal media campaign on HIV/AIDS over the years.
Assessing the proficiency of Uganda Sign Language (USL) in HIV/AIDS education: Through this experiment, the team intended to learn whether deaf persons in Kitgum district, aged 17 years and above are fluent/proficient in USL in regard to HIV/AIDS education.

Challenges and Lessons Learnt

Difference in the sign language used by the deaf community in northern Uganda in comparison to the nationally recognized Universal Sign Language(USL) making it hard for the deaf community to interpret messages curated for scale purposes

File Upload

Poker Card Fact Sheet.pdf

Platform 503

webadmin — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 09:58:12 +0000

Platform 503 webadmin Wed, 09/23/2020 - 11:58

A music dance and drama group which creates ‘’you-change skits’’ that help young women, adolescent girls and young people affected by conflict in refugee and host communities access user friendly information on the causes, prevention and strategies to end gender based violence through audio/visual context appropriate customer inclusive, educative and entertaining short plays.

Introduction

Platform 503’s You Change Skits will help young adolescents, teenage mothers and community members who want to access information on causes, effects and ways of preventing GBV by introducing informative, family friendly, fun packed short video clips/live drama on GBV and increasing awareness thus reducing cases of GBV in communities.

Platform 503 intends to promote behaviour change among young people and communities by providing access to relevant information on gender based violence and support services for GBV victims, through user friendly You Change Skits there by reducing the high cases of GBV in refugee settlements and host districts.

Ketura , a 19 year old teenage mother living in imvepi refugee settlement is always beaten by her husband. Currently radio pacis plays audio drama in Lugbarati a language keturah and her man do not understand. But if we run an informative, fun packed , short video clips / live drama campaign in different local languages spoken and understood in west nile , then we will increase awareness on GBV to a larger number of people and reduce cases of GBV in refugee /host communities.

Progress and Results

The team has documented and recorded a series of you change skit on the causes and prevention of GBV. The feedback from the experiments has been incorporated into the skit and played again to potential referral partners for their approval.

a)Needs Assessment: The conducted a discovery on the effectiveness of the You Change Skits among key stakeholders in Imvepi Refugee Settlement and Logiri Sub county in Arua district. The outcomes included Most cases that were highlighted by the community were attributed to alcohol and drug abuse; Only a few women could openly speak about their own personal experiences with GBV; The Aruba culture prohibits GBV reporting hence victims are afraid to break the cultural norm & Forced marriages are one of the leading causes of men being abusive towards the women.
Experiment on using a cinema hall and open community centre to drive action among survivors: This experiment was to test whether playing you change skits in cinema halls will lead to increased access to information and referral services in the community
Partnership with referral actors due to the messaging in the community: The purpose of this experiment was to discover whether the messaging in the you change skits can enable building referral partnerships in the community
Mainstream and community radio as a channel of broadcasting You Change Skits: The purpose of this experiment was to discover if playing themed You Change Skits audio productions on gender based violence will lead to
Increased access to GBV related information; Increased referral services for survivors in the community on GBV cases; Reduction in GBV cases

Challenges and Lessons Learnt

From the experiments, it came to light that some of the participants required immediate professional counselling; many community members (Elders, children) are affected by GBV; the community was more open to speak about their personal experiences with GBV after the skits; Music plays a big role in capturing the attention of the community; some cases can be avoided if there is less confrontation between spouses; the community was excited by the creative approach of the team and it was more responsive to the influencers compared to local leaders.

The team still needs to figure out how to differentiate their work from existing similar initiatives like like Reach A Hand's edutainment shows; form partnerships with police, GBV organisations to address referral issues during outreaches; Expand the content of the skits to address other issues of prevention and access to GBV services as well as Changing skit prototype based on community feedback

File Upload

Platform 503 Fact Sheet.pdf

Mieringa Girl Care Limited

webadmin — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 09:53:01 +0000

Mieringa Girl Care Limited webadmin Wed, 09/23/2020 - 11:53

A 3-In-1 product/service accessible via the Mieringa easy to read materials in form of posters and sign posts(for teens and youth), audio information available through a toll free call platform and SMS services(for the elderly and those with access to phones) that help to reduce cases of unintended and early pregnancies and other SRHR services for young people between 13 to 17 years affected by conflict and those in refugee host communities. Available in Lugbara and English languages

Introductions

Mieringa Girl Care Limited’s social mission is to reduce the number of early teenage pregnancy cases in the society through providing timely, convenient and confidential access to information about early teenage pregnancy.

It leverages low cost feature technologies that include SMS and IVR as well as easy to read materials in form of posters and sign posts to help young girls between the ages of 13 - 17 years to access information in local languages on early teenage pregnancies so that they are empowered to make informed choices on prevention. In Uganda, the teenage pregnancy rate is 24% with regional variations. This increases to 34% in the poorest households. In rural areas, 24% of girls experience early pregnancy compared to 16% of wealthier households and 21% of urban girls (UNICEF, 2015).

A 14 year old girl, who is in senior two leaving in Rhino camp settlement has a lot of difficulty in accessing convenient and confidential information about early teenage pregnancy. She fears to talk to her parents, teachers and community leaders about this issue. Currently, she can obtain this information from radio talk shows like Amazing life program on radio Pacis, posters and sensitization dialogues in her settlement, but if we provide her with convenient access to information and awareness through easy to read materials in form of posters and sign posts, audio information, toll free calls and free SMS’s, then we will observe reduced cases of early teenage pregnancies.

Progress and Results

The team had many test areas based on feedback from the end user

Needs assessment on their 3-In-1 product/service- the ‘’Mieringa easy to read materials in form of posters and sign posts, audio information, toll free call and SMS services’’ They also sought to find out the usage preference between Audio information and Visual presentations among girls. From the experiment, the discovered that the young girls and their parents accessed information through radio station and workshops as well as magazines of which these platforms aren’t readily available and easily accessible by them
Barriers that hinder access to information on the causes and prevention of early teenage pregnancies for young women: The experiment revealed that prevention of access to information about early teenage pregnancies by their parents is due to the poor attitude parents have towards this kind of information, religious beliefs, lack of time from parents to their young girls and ignorance from parents while for the girls, the barriers included poor cultural beliefs, the poor attitude village elders have towards this kind of information, and lack of support from government.
The use of sign posts and charts in disseminating information on early teenage pregnancy: This experiment sought to discover whether young girls in the age brackets of (13-17 yrs) and parents pay attention to information presented on sign posts and posters. From the experiment, the team discovered that information presented on sign posts and posters reaches out to a large number of people and provides guidance to parents on what to speak to the young girls. The information presented also encourage the young girls to open up and begin speaking to their parents about themselves.
Utilizing audio messages delivered through megaphones to foster young girls and parents to speak to themselves about early teenage pregnancy: From the previous experiment, as much as many people read sign posts and posters, there are those who rarely leave their homesteads. The audio messages intends to further spread the message on teen pregnancy deep through the available local council channels with the use of megaphones

Challenges and Lessons Learnt

From the study, there’s limited access to information about early teenage pregnancies across all levels due to the poor attitude that parents/elders/community members have towards this kind of information, religious beliefs, lack of time from parents/elders to talk their young girls and ignorance from parents/elders.

File Upload

Mieringa Fact sheet.pdf

iKitty Life

webadmin — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 09:48:58 +0000

iKitty Life webadmin Wed, 09/23/2020 - 11:48

A service that helps young men and women living in rural and refugee settlements to access affordable family planning services by reducing the distance and associated costs through a last mile distribution network of village health teams.

Introduction

iKitty’s social mission is to reduce the high statistics of unintended pregnancies and STIs among teenagers and young people. It aspires to change this narrative by using locally based networks of VSLA groups and VHTs to provide mobile distribution of safe contraceptives and menstrual supplies.
Teenagers and young people have challenges accessing contraceptives in their neighborhood. Currently, they’re faced with stigma, long distance and high costs in accessing contraceptives, but if we use the networks of existing friendly VHTs and VSLA groups in their own neighborhoods to provide mobile distribution of safe and affordable contraceptives to them, then we’ll observe an increase in contraceptive uptake which reduces unintended pregnancies and STIs among teenagers and young people.

Progress and Results

During the experimentation period, the team focused on testing how the young men and women would prefer to be served the family planning commodities using village health teams. As such, they experimented with three male and two female distributors with various age groups. The commodities distributed include male condoms and emergency pills. Pregnancy test kits were also added to the stock.

The team learnt that using peers as VHTs to distribute commodities makes the service look user friendly, thus approachable

Needs Assessment: The team conducted an experiment to discover whether market opportunities exist in the VSLA groups and VHTs for distribution of contraceptives and whether teenagers/young people will be more comfortable using them as opposed to what currently exists.
Effectiveness of the Boda-Boda Model in the Last Mile Distribution of Contraceptives: The purpose of this experiment was learn whether Boda boda model distribution is effective to increase uptake of contraceptives by teenagers & young people. The team learnt that when target beneficiaries get the right information on contraceptives and when the service provider is youth friendly and hails from one of the villages, the fear in teenagers and young people is minimal hence proving boda boda and peet-to-peer distribution methods is effective.

Challenges and Lessons Learnt

Despite the team being very passionate about their project they do need a set of process-related skills for example: the ability to share responsibilities, manage time, set and meet deadlines and communicate effectively. Due to these observations the team is still falling behind in terms of group projects.

File Upload

iKitty Fact sheet.pdf

Babykit Company Limited

webadmin — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 09:41:05 +0000

Babykit Company Limited webadmin Wed, 09/23/2020 - 11:41

It is making low cost infant warmers using locally available raw materials to help new young mothers in refugee settlements to improve care for at-risk or premature babies

Introduction

BabyKit Company Limited’s social mission is to produce quality and unique products which are made out of the locally grown cotton that acts as a baby warmer to the new born babies (0-3 months) in Africa. The babykit sifo for newborns will help mothers living in refugee settlements/conflict areas who want to keep their new born babies aged 0– 3 months warm by providing low-cost and locally made cotton baby warmers at health care service delivery points in their locality thus reducing the risk of pneumonia

New mothers living in a refugee settlements or in conflict areas face a problem of infant ( (0 – 3 months) ) pneumonia because the mother cannot afford warm beddings and stays in a poorly constructed home. Currently, they’re using lighter pieces of cloth, lighter blankets which cannot provide adequate warmth to the baby. However the team has developed a low-cost and high-quality baby warmer product that consists of a sifo warmer and a blanket to the new mothers. This product is being provided at the health service delivery point during discharge. The team is observing a reduction in the number of pneumonia cases thus an improvement in maternal health.

Progress and Results

The team had many test areas based on feedback from the end user

a)The need: The team conducted a needs assessment to validate whether the discharge and pregnant mother in refugee/host community in refugee settlements that have been discharged from health facilities would take their baby warmer because newborn babies lack warm bedding to prevent them from coldness due to the poor housing structures. The feedback was positive with the target audience showing interest in the product
b)Affordability: The team conducted an experiment to validate whether discharge and pregnant mother in refugee/host community can afford to buy products at low cost- the outcome was positive i.e. discharge & pregnant mothers in refugee/host communities can afford to buy the babykit products
c)Distribution: Given the geographical locations of the health centers, discharge and pregnant mothers in refugee/host communities, the BabyKit team experimented on which channels to use to distribute their products to the target user. This involved leveraging the Village Health Teams community structures and the outcome was that they are willing to resell it and the margins from revenues they are willing to accept.
Marketing & Scale: To validate this test area, the team experimented on

The impact of a sales and payment plan on Packaged Sifo & Baby blanket products
How advertisement can create awareness for the packaged Sifo & baby blanket product and subsequently lead to an increase in the sales i.e. increase in the number of expecting mothers buying

Challenges and Lessons Learnt

Low supply versus high demand for cotton because few farmers in West Nile grow cotton; amount of time spent in sorting the cotton seeds and limited sewing machines pause challenges to the successful full scaling of the initiative. However, in order to overcome these challenges, the team has adopted an in house and outgrower model in which team members are being encouraged to grow cotton and have assured market while the same is being done for external farmers; for limited sewing machines, the team plans to invest in more sewing machines over time as the demand for the product increases

File Upload

BabyKit Fact Sheet.pdf

Steamline

webadmin — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 09:28:38 +0000

Steamline webadmin Wed, 09/23/2020 - 11:28

An e-health platform that empowers clinicians to take care of their patients efficiently by providing them with the right information at the right time, patient safety prompts and resources to improve the quality of health care administered, hence saving lives.

Introduction

Streamline is an e-health platform that enables clinicians in resource poor settings to deliver health care efficiently by providing key patient safety prompts across the entire patient journey.

Stre@mline follows the patient journey incorporating demographics, triage, consultation, patient safety, investigation ordering and results, prescriptions, stock control of medicines, insurance, finances and with the ability to generate statistical data needed for monthly government Health Management Information System reports (HMIS), graphical trend data, etc.

Stre@mline is tailored to the specific context and needs of low-resource hospitals, has local technical support available, and is economically sustainable. We maintain a patient-centered, integrated approach, focusing on collecting key information needed by clinician in a busy clinical setting rather than extensive details on all patients.

Progress and Results

More than 250,000 patients, 465,000 patient visits have been registered on Stre@mline in 12 hospitals in Uganda. More than 600 clinicians and administrative staff use Stre@mline daily.

100% of children attending OPD care receive triage assessment helping to identify promptly the patients who need priority care

100% of patients undergo health screening, key to spotting any future health conditions in time.

100% Prospective audit of prescribing errors to allow targeted training for staff

Accurate real time data and clinical information

Guidance for correct management of patients available 24 hours a day

Challenges and Lessons Learnt

Implementing Stre@mline in hospitals is a change management process. Some clinicians do not have the computer literacy and skills to use digital tools. Sometimes, there is resistance to change. We collaborate with local hospitals to run a digital literacy program at their hospitals and work with hospital administration to emphasize the importance of Stre@mline and drive digital adoption.

Hospitals lack infrastructure eg. computers, Local Area Network (LAN) to use Stre@mline. We have set up flexible installment plans to enable hospitals acquire the infrastructure needed.

Implementing e-health platforms is an uphill task that requires a wholistic approach to all the challenges that hospitals face. A multidisciplinary team is important to make this happen.

File Upload

Stre@mline factsheet.pdf

M-SCAN

webadmin — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 09:20:26 +0000

M-SCAN webadmin Wed, 09/23/2020 - 11:20

Developers of low cost portable ultrasound devices that are laptop, tablet and mobile phone compatible.

Introduction

M-SCAN aims at reducing maternal mortality through early detection of complications arising in pregnancy using M-SCAN devices.

The current maternal mortality rates stand at 16 mothers daily. Most of the mothers die of complications arising in pregnancy. Most of these complications such as placenta previa, cord around babies neck, can be detected on ultrasound, however, health facilities cant afford the traditional ultrasound machines that are very expensive and use a lot of power.

As such, M-SCAN is providing ultrasound devices to such resource limited settings mainly through three channels; availing the M-SCAN devices directly to clinics and hospitals in the rural facilities, scanning pregnant women at medical camps in rural Uganda, training frontline health workers in basic obstetric ultrasound. We these well implemented, we plan to contribute to lowering unnecessary maternal deaths.

Progress and Results

M-SCAN was started after seeing the plight of pregnant mothers in rural Uganda with many dying of undetected complications in pregnancy. With the power of M-SCAN, the goal was to aid early detection of risk factors of maternal health, have mothers intervened early and their lives and those of the babies saved.

From incorporation in July 2017, M-SCAN through seed funding from UNFPA was incubated at Outbox Hub under the Upaccelerate programme. We managed to develop an MVP (Minimum Viable Product).

In 2018, we outsourced manufacture in China and developed a more robust prototype that was able to scan in real time and visualize internal organs to include the fetus for pregnancy.

So far, we have deployed an M-SCAN device at Kalangala Health Center IV, one of our pilot sites. The machine generates data that we compile and analyze. This informs us on the utility of the device, it’s effectiveness and specificity in detecting complications.

On the same note, we have carried out more pilots in districts of Kampala, Jinja, Karamoja, Bukwo, Buyende, Mubende where a total of 532 pregnant women have been scanned, with over 88 complications detected.

M-SCAN has also worked on a data management software that feeds into the scanning software to make reporting easier. This helps in following up patients with complications.

We have research that has gotten approval from Mulago Institutional Review Board – Mulago hospital. Results from the research will help to further validate the M-SCAN devices.

Challenges and Lessons Learnt

The approval process is very slow, however conducting local research is the best approach to acquire approvals from necessary regulatory bodies.

Not many frontline health workers can perform ultrasound, training is a key enabler to sell more machines, we currently partnering with Infectious Disease Institute to offer training services.

The myth that VHTs and midwives find smart technology difficult to use has been dispelled in this project; with minimal support, all users were able to use the phone and report quality data. However, Uganda still faces challenges of reliable ICT infrastructure. This is mitigated by enabling users to find spaces where there is connectivity at the time of data transmission and update. There have been some cases of poor handling and damaged phones which caused cases of non-reporting. GetIN was developed using SANA, a new technology in the Ugandan market and therefore difficult to find developers. The project has embarked on rebuilding the applications while continuing to seek support from MIT who have always supported the project.

File Upload

M-SCAN Fact Sheet.pdf

iDrain

webadmin — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 09:14:43 +0000

iDrain webadmin Wed, 09/23/2020 - 11:14

Developed by Medsols Uganda Ltd, iDrain is a low-cost chest drainage device primarily designed for use in pleural effusion patients. The device can also be used for other suction procedures.

Introduction

The vision of Medsols (U) Ltd is innovation for a healthier world. Through research and innovation, we solve emerging and existing healthcare challenges.

Access to standard medical devices is still a big healthcare challenge in the developing world countries. According to WHO, almost 80% of the medical devices from the first world countries do not actually work in the developing world settings owing to the high cost of both the devices and consumables, lack of expertise to operate them and other factors. Thus to improve access to standard healthcare in such areas, innovations must be tailored to meet the specific needs at a cost most affordable to that specific population.

iDrain was developed to meet this need. On average, 10 patients every week are diagnosed with pleural effusion at a major referral hospital in Uganda. The ideal water under seal chest drainage devices aren’t available at these hospitals.

Progress & Results

Ideated in 2016, the iDrain device has undergone several prototyping stages. With funding from UNFPA under the first edition of the UpAccelerate program, we were able to develop the first prototype with help of consultants from Uganda Industrial Research institute.

The team also conducted an end user needs finding study and results showed a great need by doctors for the product. The team also applied for intellectual property rights (utility model) with URSB.

Further funding from the CAMTech Accelerator program enabled a partnership with Kasp3r Technologies in Nairobi-Kenya where a clinical trial ready product was developed. The testing at laboratory level with Kasp3r gave promising results.

Challenges and Lessons Learnt

A challenge in controlling pressure efficiently emerged from the first prototype. The challenge has been solved. However, challenges in realizing a working prototype increased costs of production which will affect the final cost of the device.

Among the lessons learnt, it is important to engage a wide range of consultants in developing medical devices. This helps in reducing the failure rates and reducing the costs involved during prototyping.

File Upload

iDrain Innovation Factsheet.pdf