Technology

Kenyans seek health solutions on social media

graphic

Social media platforms play a crucial role in linking patients with doctors. PHOTO | BD GRAPHIC

A woman posted an update on the social media last December: “My baby has swallowed my ring, what should I do?”

Commenters on the post, mostly mothers who had experienced a similar incident, offered all manner of well-meaning pieces of advice to help the distraught counterpart, albeit from a layman’s point of view.

“Give the baby a banana, she will poop the ring,” wrote one mother and another added: “Give her porridge.” A couple of hours later, another post appears on the page from an enraged nurse who had handled a “serious case of endangering the life of a child because of seeking medical opinion from the wrong sources”.

Around the same period, a young man now deceased, sat at the bone marrow transplant unit in India, writing in detail about his experience and struggles of being at the hospital. Many commented on the post from danielmbugua.wordpress.com, assuring him of their prayers and some with a similar condition drawing strength from his resilience.

These examples are a reflection of the growing influence of the social media on health matters. There is no doubt that Kenyan social media users have placed the country on the global map of tech-savvy nations. They are Africa’s top Twitter users, only second after South Africa, according to iHub Research 2013, and by the end of last year the Communications Authority of Kenya reported that there were 14.8 million Internet users in the country.

When it comes to healthcare issues, the use of social media narrative changes. In Mercy Mutune’s case, for example, Facebook page Kilimani Mums came in handy in her search for a specialist.

“I was transferred from Kisumu to Nairobi, which made me leave behind my regular trusted doctor. When I came here I visited many doctors who disappointed me until this lady on Kilimani Mums referred me to her gynaecologist,” she says.

While Ms Mutune was given a referral to a doctor, medics such as Kisumu-based Patrick Oyaro are offering their services to the public on the social media. The doctor is the director of the Family Aids Care and Education Services (also known as Just Faces), a HIV/Aids management unit of the Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri).

Aware of the cultural impediments that have stagnated the war on HIV, the decision to interact with people on his Facebook account was deliberate.

“Many people come to my wall to make general comments, some elated that they have gathered new information that they did not have on matters such as male circumcision,” Dr Oyaro told the Business Daily.

“Others contact me through my inbox and ask questions about where they can get tested for HIV and what they would do should they test positive and we take it from there.”

The doctor’s case is also a testimony of a complex relationship between medicine and the social media — the fragile illusion of privacy on the Internet is slowly creeping into the medical fraternity where confidentiality is crucial.

An avid preventive medicine advocate, he uses his personal Facebook account to engage the public on communicable diseases such as tuberculosis, pneumonia and sexually transmitted infections.

Dr Oyaro’s approach to healthcare is not only a Third World affair. Two thirds of American doctors use the social media for professional purposes, often preferring an open platform as opposed to closed online forums, reports the Doctor’s Tech Toolbox, a national forum established in 2009 to spur use of health IT systems by doctors and hospitals.

According to a 2012 McKinsey Global Institute research report, use of social tools to enhance communications, knowledge sharing, and collaboration among institutions has a lot of benefits. The MGI study shows that firms adopting social technologies raise workplace productivity and interaction by between 20 and 25 per cent. Use of social media is also crucial in boosting traffic to hospitals’ websites and YouTube views.

Many healthcare institutions, such as Kemri know the importance of the social media, and therefore have guidelines on what is posted on their platforms. Patients, especially those with chronic diseases, form online social communities where they “look after one another” such as the Multiple Sclerosis Association of Kenya WhatsApp group.

The group was created by chairman Kamau Kimani and Robai Muiruri, a member of the association, to offer social support to patients affected by the incurable autoimmune disease.

The online interactions, in the case of the WhatsApp group, link patients as well as create networking and support systems that help members cope with the condition.

The social media is also used in fundraising to help patients pay medical bills or seek specialised treatment abroad given high poverty levels and a lack of health insurance cover for the majority of Kenyans.

[email protected]