World Health Organisation honoured three Kenyans as among the best 30 health innovators in Africa

World Health Organisation honoured three Kenyans as among the best 30 health innovators in Africa

World Health Organisation (WHO) named three Kenyans as among the best 30 health innovators in Africa after their apps appeared top in a global challenge.

Out of 30, seven of them from East Africa, were selected from over 2,471 entries in the first-ever WHO innovation challenge in just four weeks of opening.

The competition drew entries from 77 countries, 44 of which are African.

Prof Eunice Kamaara of Moi University, Dr Friday Njogu and Mr Geoffrey Omondi, a bio-statistician with Plan International, displayed their winning projects to Cape Verde President Jorge Fonseca and the WHO regional head for Africa Matshidiso Moeti at the bi-annual conference in Praia, Cape Verde.

Ms Njogu, 37, and Mr Omondi, 30, displayed technological innovations that are focused at strengthening the health system, specialy maternal and child safety.

Ms Njogu, who is a public health specialist with experience in executing HIV/Tuberculosis and maternal, newborn and child health programmes, said, "The problem we are solving is that most health managers in sub-Saharan Africa lack information or records on the quality of health service they give and therefore cannot make decisions as to which areas need improvement."

Her team planned, designed and developed a platform called "Afyakit" that can house digital supervision tools in a health facility and provide analytics.

Mr Omondi's project, known as the Smart Paper Technology (SPT), allows for mother and child health data to be expressed on paper by health workers and then scanned, digitised, and uploaded onto a hospital management system even without electricity connectivity.

"The innovation delivers all the benefits of electronic health record systems, and allows smooth execution in clinics and areas without electricity, connectivity and security," Mr Omondi said.

In the competition, Kenya and Nigeria tied with the highest number of best innovators having three each.  Other countries had only one representative.

Whereas, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi also represented the EAC.