Prof. Paul Cunningham of mHealth4Afrika Initiative

This DL will share insight into social, ethical and implementation related challenges associated with the systematic introduction of technology to strengthen access to universal healthcare delivery in resource constrained environments. Paul is an internationally recognised expert in the fields of Sustainable Development and ICT4D. This DL will also provide an opportunity for discussion about potential opportunities for IEEE and non-IEEE members to get more involved in Sustainable Development and ICT4D activities at home and abroad.

Biography:

Paul is Founder and Coordinator of the mHealth4Afrika Initiative (www.mHealth4Afrika.org), which is focused on leveraging technology, innovation and capacity building training and multi-stakeholder collaboration to strengthen universal healthcare delivery in resource constrained environments.

Co-designed with Ministries of Health, District Health Offices, Health Facility Managers and Nurses from rural and deep rural health facilities in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi and South Africa, mHealth4Afrika is a comprehensive, standards based technology and capacity building solution designed to complement and gradually replace use of traditional hardcopy patient registries.

Co-funded by the European Commission, mHealth4Afrika was co-designed and validated in 23 healthcare facilities (including county and referral hospitals) in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi and South Africa, serving a total catchment population of c.875,000 people. It provides an adaptable, extensible, modular, multi-lingual and standards based electronic health platform to support longitudinal “cradle to grave” medical records, integrating: Electronic Health Record (EHR) and Electronic Medical Record (EMR) functionality; use of Medical Sensors at the point of care; analytical, visualisation and decision support tools; automatic generation of program specific aggregate data for District Health Offices & Ministries of Health; SMS Appointment Reminders; and  integration with a Laboratory Test System 

This presentation will share insight into the origins of this Initiative, the co-design and validation process undertaken, lessons learnt, results to date and plans for the future, and facilitate discussion of ethical implications of research and innovation interventions in resource constrained environments.

Email:

Address:Dubliln, Dublin, Ireland