The digital health opportunity in Sub Saharan Africa.

When inefficient supply chain management results in stockouts of essential medicines at health facilities, it becomes complicated to treat and manage communicable and non-communicable diseases.

Poor and rural communities that depend on these facilities for health services and medicines are most affected. Stockouts also mean that an already strained health workforce spends time rationing or tracking drugs instead of caring for patients.

Midwife Zelipe refers to her tablet for up-to-date drug inventory tracking on anti-malaria treatments.

© 2017 for Novartis/www.martinvogt.ch

Inventory stock management by health workers are an important, but a time consuming task to ensure accurate and sufficient drug supply in rural areas.

Electronic tracking of medicines addressing key operational challenges at peripheral health facilities.

Applied ‘SMS for Life’ tablet based inventory reporting helps to close potential stock gaps by rapid distribution of disease surveillance information to district, regional, and national level management to support better disease management.

This is one of many stories I've found during my assignment during the roll-out of the SMS for Life program for Novartis Social Business in Zambia.

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© 2018 by MARTIN VOGT www.martinvogt.ch