AN APP TO HELP IMPROVE PRIMARY HEALTHCARE IN REMOTE AND IMPOVERISHED AREAS OF SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
In Zambia there is 1 doctor for every 12,000 people, so 3 Sided Cube built a scalable, efficient solution to work reliably offline, and help improve local primary healthcare in some of the most remote and impoverished areas of sub-Saharan Africa
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THE CHALLENGE
Founded in 2007, the Virtual Doctors is a charity that supports frontline healthcare workers in rural Zambia and Malawi. They use a simple smartphone with a preloaded app to connect rural health centres where there are no doctors, with volunteer Doctors based predominantly in the UK.
The volunteer doctors offer advice to diagnose conditions, treat patients, and prescribe medicine. This empowers rural health workers and helps to save lives. The Virtual Doctors service also helps to reduce the number of hospital referrals that would mean long, arduous journeys and often unmanageable expenses for very poor patients.
The organisation relies heavily on technology to facilitate communication between clinical officers in remote locations and the Virtual Doctors. However, the existing app used by Virtual Doctors was outdated, buggy, and not built to scale. It struggled with offline functionality, which is crucial since clinical officers often work in areas with limited or no internet access.
The challenges with the existing app were:
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The Virtual Doctors approached 3 Sided Cube to develop a scalable, efficient solution that would work reliably offline, streamline the case logging process, and enhance the overall user experience for both clinical officers and virtual doctors.
Their North Star is to help improve local primary healthcare in some of the most remote and impoverished areas of sub-Saharan Africa, and we were thrilled to get to work and help them do just that!
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THE SOLUTION
The solution involved developing two key products: an admin portal and a mobile app for Android. The admin portal was designed for UK-based virtual doctors to manage cases and view dashboards. The mobile app was designed for clinical officers who work offline to log cases and sync information when online. This approach aimed to address the scalability issues and improve the offline functionality critical to the life-saving work of Virtual Doctors operations.
Every single day this app allows volunteer doctors to offer advice to diagnose conditions, and manage and treat patients. This assists and empowers local health workers, helps support the reduction in mortality rates & hospital referrals, and furthers the Clinical Officers’ medical education.
WHAT DOES THE APP DO?
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CREATE CASES OFFLINE AND SYNC DATA WHEN ONLINE
The mobile app allows clinical officers to manage and create cases offline and sync data when online.
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COLLECT DETAILED INFORMATION
Collect detailed information required by virtual doctors to provide accurate advice.
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GET ASSIGNED TO APPROPRIATE SPECIALISTS
Use complex routing logic to ensure cases are assigned to appropriate specialists.
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ADMIN PORTAL
The admin portal allows virtual doctors to manage user access and roles, view and respond to cases, and access a dashboard with relevant metrics.
THE RESULTS
The solution was deployed successfully as a pilot phase, with v1 built and in use to gather feedback and data for a full launch version. The app is currently being used by real users, providing a more efficient and reliable means for clinical officers to manage cases in remote areas and significantly enhancing their ability to deliver medical advice and support. This pilot phase allows the team to learn and make necessary adjustments, ensuring the app will ultimately save lives and provide the best possible support to clinical officers and their patients.
The project is still in progress, with plans for further scaling and additional functionalities such as resource management and educational tools.
So stay tuned for more impact from the Virtual Doctors!
DID YOU KNOW?
Zambia has 1600 doctors for a population of over 15 million people? That is 1 doctor for every 12,000 people. That’s what makes the work that the Virtual Doctors do so vital.
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