Dokutela

 Our main objective is to provide patients with chronic conditions access to medication without having to travel far to health care facilities, thereby reducing the risk of spread of COVID-19 among a high risk population by developing an application with that will offer doctor connect, drug connect services using health approved questionnare capturing patient feedback 

Infectious diseases account for at least 69% of deaths on the continent. Age specific mortality rates from chronic diseases as a whole are actually higher in sub Saharan Africa than in all other regions of the world.A common problem in government hospitals is overcrowding with follow up patients seeking medication. There is no doubt that Southern African countries lie within the highest number of people with HIV, as a result these patients visit clinics frequently to get their medication leading to overcrowding. Overcrowding affects patients' clinical outcomes, patient satisfaction and could contribute to the spread of the virus. This can also affect a physician's effectiveness which may result in frustration among medical staff. 

It is against this background that our team is working on developing an application which enables patients with pre-existing chronic diseases notify hospitals and doctors of their medications needs, of an appointment whenever they need  further check-up. This will not only enable patients to stay safe at home but will also enable doctors and hospital staff to have a pre-planned day ahead.  Physicians can then determine the number of  expected regular patients, pre-arrange for their medications thereby reducing overcrowding and in hospitals during the COVID19 pandemic.

Our final product  which will kick-start as a USSD based platform and later develop into a smartphone and laptop friendly application will offer the following services. 

Drug Connect allows patients to simply collect  their drugs at a nearby health clinic and remove the need for patients to go to their primary health care facility during the COVID-19 pandemic through a doctor approved Health questonnaire coupled with doctor connect,the questionnaire will allow the doctor to make informed decisions on whether to book the patient for appointment or to instruct the patient to continue with his current medication. A health record will be captured through the doctor patient interaction 

Patient Feedback will be generated on patient drug interaction.

Our target population is people of all ages and all genders with chronic diseases.The market need is well understood based on personal experience of team members in the health industry and concerned patients with access to medication from state owned hospitals. The solution will address their needs through reduction of overcrowding and queues of patients at hospitals and thereby eliminating the spread of COVID-19 infections, reducing the frequent patient visits to their primary health care centers, enable doctors, nurses and other hospital staff to have pre-planned and scheduled their daily workload ,assist government and pharmaceutical companies in the procurement and dispensing of chronic conditions’ medication,early identifications of warning of adverse effects of drugs on patients for better drug management.

Planning is of  importance in hospitals as it enables the management to assign team tasks and functions based on staff competencies and capabilities, ensuring better services and reducing overcrowding at hospitals.  Pre-determining the type of patients to be expected at  hospital on a particular day  will help reduce overcrowding and enable medical staff to curb fatigue and stress associated with overworking 

 Hospitals are regarded as a high risk area for COVID-19 due to overcrowding  interferes with social distancing regulations set  by law and  will be of benefit to minimize risk of patients with disparate type of ailments from visiting hospitals 

Our competitor is CCMDD (Centralized Chronic Medicines Dispensing and Distribution) also referred  to as Get checked Go collect, is an innovative  program  in South Africa aimed at helping patients  with chronic illness to access their government issued chronic medication  more easily at designated pick up points.

The free service Reduces the clinic visits to twice a year Reduces the need for long distance travels and waiting in long queues in hospitals, Guarantees the patient’s medical stability with the uninterrupted medicine supply Allows patient’s privacy as the medicine arrives in a sealed box at the pickup point.

What distinguishes us is:

Our products are domain specific focused and in full support of the Sustainable Development Goals(SDG),driven by the integration of the 5th industrial revolution technologies. leveraging the use of the widespread USSD platform to reach our target audience.The target beneficial audience are considered health challenged individuals, underprivelleged, and mostly at risk of COVID-19 . There are little or no solutions to this problem in society.Our initiation is an interventions to solve COVID-19 and sustainable even after the pandemic

As a result our solution will
Reduce overcrowding and queues of patients at hospitals and thereby eliminating the  spread  of COVID-19 infections.
Enable doctors, nurses and other hospital staff  to have pre -planned and scheduled their daily workload . 
Assist government and pharmaceutical companies in the procurement and dispensing of chronic conditions’ medication.
Early identification of  warning of adverse effects of drugs on patients for better drug management.
  

Our solution uses an existing technology which is the USSSD(Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) which is a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) protocol that is used to send text messages. USSD is similar to Short Message Service (SMS).It can be used for Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) browsing, mobile money services, prepaid callback service, menu-based information services and location-based content services.

Technical functioning of the USSD model

1)USSD session is initialized by mobile user

2)Sends: HTTP “GET” Message to 3rd Party Server Address

3)XML Response String Containing Menus etc get relayed from the server

4)USSD Menus Displayed on Mobile Handset

5)Responses given by user relayed back to our server for implementing with machine kerning data sets

6)The result of evaluation is provided to the customer via SMS.

This USSD model  can be used for Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) browsing, mobile money services, prepaid callback service, menu-based information services and location-based content services.

This is a link to a public available evidence on the use of the technology: https://www.google.com/url?sa=...

As South Africa is our target country  currently we estimate 8 Million people are on chronic medication in South Africa as this is our target country this year. This is based on the fact that 15.6 million South Africans above the age of 15 yrs take at least one medication regularly and local HIV care cascades show that 53% of patients reach control of their illness and remain stable on medication - in other words, do not require medication to be changed at their doctor’s visit.

 In the next 5 years or less we expect to spread the use of this system  across Africa and other countries around the world  (Asia, Latin American countries) and reach 60 millions users in 50 countries.

Our goals within this year and the next 5 years or less are:

     To conduct a market study

• Connect with Sub Saharan African Governments and key partners operating in the health sector 
• Reaching an agreement with hospitals to integrate the technology
• Design the prototype of the product and Demonstrate it to the stakeholders
•  Add smartphone channels.

•  Add  all the components to the system (Drug connect, Health questionnaire,Health record and patient Feedback )
• Reach our real time users in our target country ,expand to other African countries and other countries outside Africa.
• Develop machine learning algorithms for drug stores stock optimization and patient’s monitoring
• Based on local law, add pharmacovigillance data for life science companies (pick up specific side effects, etc)

We plan to achieve our goals through partnerships with governments and government hospitals,applying for funding to enable procuring of some items that are critical in building the prototype,seeking help from volunteers/interns with skills,working with mentors to guide us through,marketing our services on social media platforms

Financial barriers we lack  funds critical in development an example is need of buying the implementation infrastructure required such as a Database, servers and  USSD software and Data analytics software

Legal barrier we lack a proper understanding of the South African laws on operating a business in their country.

Cultural barrier we lack an Indigenous South African languages experts as there are almost 10 official languages in the country that we will need to accommodate in creation of the application

Technical barrier:The team lacks some technical expertise necessary in developing the prototype.

Market barrier:The team currently does not have direct access to  the target market.

We plan to overcome the Financial barriers through applying for funding to various stakeholders by pitching our idea to them
We plan to  overcome Legal barriers by seeking  partnership with the government,consult and familiarize with their business operational laws.
We plan to  overcome the Cultural barriers by  partnering with organizations like Uliza to assist us penetrate the language barrier.
We plan to overcome the Technical barriers by recruiting  interns or volunteers with the necessary skills.Currently we have been able to recruit some interns.

We plan to use various social media  platforms including Facebook,website,radio and television to access our target market and overcome our market barrier.

5 part time

2 interns

1. Mariet: Physician with 4 years experience in various clinical settings. Global health researcher focused on health systems strengthening measures and the costing analysis thereof. Previously worked as graduate student consultant for global safe surgery non-profit Lifebox, creating a quality improvement strategy for implementation of WHO safe surgery checklists and HMIS indicators for hospitals as part of the Clean Cut program in Ethiopia.
2. Ruusa Ipinge: Ruusa is a data scientist with 2 years experience, she  has 7 years experience in business consulting and research with a strong business acumen coupled with excellent organization skills,data science skills and machine learning. She is a humanitarian  invested in community work , founded non-governmental data for good organizations that aim to use data to solve humanitarian challenges.
3. Edel:Veterinary doctor trainee with 2 years in Clinical case management, ambulatory and house call services, extension services and community outreach with (OHCEA) under University of Nairobi, Secretary General One health club University of Nairobi.Knowledge in Clinical case management and triage in a population, contact tracing and surveillance, one health approach to disease management, leadership skills, team work and  good communication skills.
4. Ewerechukwu: Undergraduate studying computer science. Taken courses in project management, design thinking(user experience). Knowledge of python, html and css,design and documentation.
5. Pratham: Undergraduate at IIT Delhi pursuing engineering with a major in Biochemical and Biotechnology Engineering,(2023), Project Executive at Enactus (https://enactus.org/). Currently working on a fundraiser for distribution of faceshields to frontline workers. Possess data Science skills and Machine learning,Strong  Leadership and networking Skills.

Dokutela is currently in patnership with MIT

They have given us a slack platform to work on with some mentorship 

Our products are domain specific,focused and in full support of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), driven by the integration of the 5th industrial revolution technologies. The target beneficial audience are considered health challenged individuals, underprivileged, and mostly at risk of COVID-19. There are little or no solutions to this problem in society. Our initiation is an interventions to solve COVID-19 and sustainable even after the pandemic

We are offering our customers with the best USSD service that provides them with  a real-time connection between Dokutela, customer and partnership. This allows hospitals/ pharmacy to be responsive and exchange data quickly, enhancing the best services accessibility among hospitals.

We are targeting people who are impoverished and those experiencing decreased income due to COVID-related measures and who need to make use of crowded public transport to access health care under normal circumstances.While the initial focus will be on South Africa and Namibia, there are many other settings in Africa. South East Asia and Latin America that also fit this description. We wish to Improve COVID-19 response by reducing patient’s travels to clinics (primary immediate requirement)as well as solve the problem of overcrowding and queues and help patients at risk maintain social distancing.

1.Our product will be executed as a software service and the prices will be determined by:

• Hospitals provided with crowds and queues management, AI for decision support,patient disease scheduling, Pharmacy notification medication status     A subscription will be required for this services from hospitals and NGO's

• Reaching an agreement to negotiate  rebate fee with telecom service provider on the cost associated with the text messages

2. Seeking grants and donations from governments and NGO's .
3.  Revenue, our estimated Revenues  generated from the 2nd year  2021-2025

Solve can hep us overcome our financial barrier through the various  prize fundings  as our team lacks funds critical in development an example is need of buying the implementation infrastructure required such as a Database, servers ,  USSD software , Data analytics software and so much more

Solve can help us overcome the technical barrier through provision of technical expertise as our team lacks some technical expertise necessary in developing the prototype,offer business and entrepreneurship training to the team and mentorship which will also help us overcome our market barrier and better understanding of the business.

 Dokutela wishes to assist government pharmacies and private pharmaceutical companies in the procurement and management of  patients with chronic conditions’. The vision and mission of  Dokutela is centered on human well being, which is well aligned with the mandate of every government and UN national development goals as outlined in the Vision 2030.

Partnering with local governments and organizations such as Solve helps this team that has a desire to help the vulnerable chronic patient of all origins(  Women & Girls,Pregnant Women ,refugees & Internally Displaced Person ,Minorities & Previously Excluded Populations,LGBTQ+,Infants,Children & Adolescents,Elderly of  either rural, peri-urban,urban,poor,low income,middle income) live a much comfortable life with reduced risk of infection by Corona virus.

Through solve we stand to gain mentorship, technical expertise,business and entrepreneurship training and also funding as our success story will continue placing solve on the global map.

Solve as they would provide us with necessary materials , mentorship and funding.

MIT Industrial Liaison Program (ILP) is industry’s most comprehensive portal to MIT, enabling companies worldwide to harness MIT resources to address current challenges and to anticipate future needs.They can help to get access to academic resources available at MIT needed to develop our idea.

The RAIL Lab founded in March 2014. It is based in Gauteng, South Africa, and is situated between the School of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, and the Mobile Intelligent Autonomous Systems (MIAS) group at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Pretoria.They May help to expand our core competency in AI in SA

This prize is supported by The Elevate Prize Foundation, which
recognizes that there are heroes all over the world who are putting
their health and safety at risk to treat those who are infected and to
save lives.

Dokutela aims at reducing infection rates among people who are impoverished and those experiencing decreased income due to COVID-related measures ,those who need to make use of crowded public transport to access health care by reducing the number of times they travel to hospital eventually reducing overcrowding in hospitals and lowering the chance of health care workers contracting the Covid -19 virus currently a nuisance globally.The overcrowding also means heavy work load for health care workers  and hence increasing their stress levels weakening their immune systems which risks them contracting infections.

Dokutela will create ease in Hospitals by  providing  crowds and queues management, Artificial intelligence for decision making support, Pharmacy notification medication status and patient disease scheduling. This will encourage and uplift health care workers .

Dokutela plans to incorporate Artificial intelligence in the application that will help in decision making based on the information the patient keys in the health questionnaire .

Dokutela's services are open to patients from all sorts of backgrounds inclusive of refugees as they too are affected by chronic diseases,with good health and well being they can be productive in their work .

The People's prize celebrates and crowdfunds innovative achievements for the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Dokutela works towards achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 which is Good health and well being by assisting the government pharmacies and private pharmaceutical companies in the management of  patients with chronic conditions’(Women & Girls,Pregnant Women ,refugees & Internally Displaced Person ,Minorities & Previously Excluded Populations,LGBTQ+,Infants,Children & Adolescents and elderly of either rural,peri -urban,urban areas,poor,low income,middle income ).

Dokutela ensures through their services:
Drug Connect allows patients to simply collect  their drugs at a nearby health clinic and remove the need for patients to go to their primary health care facility during the COVID-19 pandemic through a doctor approved Health questionnaire coupled with doctor connect,the questionnaire will allow the doctor to make informed decisions on whether to book the patient for appointment or to instruct the patient to continue with his current medication. A health record will be captured through the doctor patient interaction ,Patient Feedback will be generated on patient drug interaction.

As a result our solution will:

 Reduce overcrowding and queues of patients at hospitals and thereby eliminating the  spread  of COVID-19 infections.

 Enable doctors, nurses and other hospital staff  to have pre-planned and scheduled their daily workload  

Assist government and pharmaceutical companies in the procurement and dispensing of chronic conditions’ medication.

Early identification of  warning of adverse effects of drugs on patients for better drug management

The Future Planet Capital Prize is open to scalable, for-profit
solutions that have the potential to significantly impact millions of
lives.

Infectious diseases account for at least 69% of deaths on the continent. Age specific mortality rates from chronic diseases as a whole are actually higher in sub Saharan Africa than in all other regions of the world. As South Africa is our target country  this year, currently we estimate 8 Million people are on chronic medication . This is based on the fact that 15.6 million South Africans above the age of 15 yrs take at least one medication regularly and local HIV care cascades show that 53% of patients reach control of their illness and remain stable on medication - in other words, do not require medication to be changed at their doctor’s visit.  In the next 5 years or less we expect to spread the use of this system  across Africa and other countries around the world  (Asia, Latin American countries) and reach 60 millions users in 50 countries.