Extend broadband coverage to get health care for all

One of the most talked about issues facing Kenya today is health care.

It was clearly by design that President Uhuru Kenyatta included affordable health care for all as one of the ‘Big Four’ agenda that will define his second and final term in office.

It was no doubt that the Kenya Private Sector Alliance found it befitting to convene the Kenya Health Stakeholders Forum whose theme was Accelerating Progress Towards Realisation of Universal Health Coverage in Kenya.

Today, Kenya is acclaimed as a major technology hub that is competing with other world renowned hubs, even earning Nairobi the new nickname, the Silicon Savannah.
It is an obvious advantage that sits in plain sight which if taken up, can leapfrog the dream to achieve universal healthcare for all.

Kenya already has some of the best broadband coverage in Kenya with upwards of 75 per cent of the population covered by mobile broadband and fibre broadband is growing rapidly.

And if it did, there would be a strong business case for extending that broadband coverage to the rest of the population as quickly as possible.

Research shows that preventative healthcare saves up to fourteen times the amount that is spent on curative healthcare.

With so much of the population young, Kenya can use a systematic and nationwide approach to health promotion campaigns using digital platforms: from SMS campaigns to apps to chat-based helplines to seed out self-help information on healthcare.

With a greater share of the health burden coming from non-communicable diseases, which often face the elderly, digital information is a low-cost way of providing information on how to keep healthy as well as manage existing health issues.

READ: Pilot project for health coverage to be implemented in Nyandarua

After prevention, the health continuum starts with diagnosis and then treatment.

We can use the existing health workforce more efficiently through remote training and consultations, as well as remote diagnosis using information from connected medical devices.

In fact, with so many new forms of diagnosis possible using apps on smartphones, or simple and cost-effective accessories that can be plugged into a smartphone, there is no reason to delay using these latest technologies to improve diagnosis.

Digital technology is also crucial in collecting and analysing timely data to improve the efficiency and quality of care delivered.

Beyond the aforementioned low cost cloud-connected diagnostic devices and software that already exist, broadband technologies can enable less fraud in procurement or sale of health products and the supply chains that ensure health products are kept cold and are always in stock.

Health infrastructure also needs to be broadened to not just include buildings, medical machines and beds, but also explicitly recognise the need for IT and broadband infrastructure, which needs to be seen as critically and fundamentally important as electricity and provided to all health facilities.

We can make better use of ongoing government investments in broadband infrastructure and then invest in this reaching the remaining health facilities and patients not yet covered.

ADAM LANE, Director, Public Affairs, Huawei Technologies.