Yotta

We are enhancing health systems  through real-time digital disease surveillance. Currently there is inconsistent data relay to the Ministry of Health despite the fact that there are a number of data management platforms being used by health practitioners. The data received is inconsistent in both quality and quantity and is often outdated or not in real-time. We a proposing an online notebook that collects, organizes and visualizes real-time disease data and a platform that enables easy deployment of e-health solutions to the last mile communities. Yotta captures data, including location and health survey information, anonymized data points in a securely managed central data store, and includes both automated and expert data analysis, and customized outputs and feedback that lead to timely and targeted responses. With the scale of such efficient health information and data systems we can realize improved decision making and timely intervention.

Health data from last mile health facilities received by the Ministry of Health is inconsistent in terms of both quality and quantity and is often outdated or not in real-time. The current data collection and surveillance methods are through the national Health Management Information System. Data is first collected at the health center level where hard copies are used and electronic medical record systems for a few health centers that have the capacity. However there is very low usage of this system as paper-based records are lost in delivery, poor quality of data, untimely delivery of HMIS reports, exclusion of data from the private health providers and at the community level, inadequate segregation of HMIS data and limited political support. This leads to a limited supply of resources including drugs and overall health provisions given the scanty data collected in the various last mile health facilities. In return, patients do not receive the medication and care required to improve their health satisfactorily.

An online notebook that collects, organizes and visualizes real-time disease data and a platform that enables easy deployment of e-health solutions to the last mile communities. Yotta captures data, such as location data and health survey information, anonymized data points in a securely managed central data store, and includes both automated and expert data analysis, and customized outputs and feedback that lead to timely and targeted responses. The data visualization also enables us to run prediction algorithms on the data to deduce geographically customized disease trends. 

Health facilities are the first level of users as Yotta helps these facilities to organize and automate their data. We have adopted a behavioral change approach that initially deploys similar paper based tools that are later replaced by the digital tools after training, testing and customization have been implemented. These mechanisms ensure that data is delivered accurately and in real time. Our approach has not been used before and can be practically replicated in other countries where health systems haven't been able to serve the last mile communities. We have built a network of health care providers consisting of health facilities and we are looking to grow by bringing other stakeholders on board through partnerships. We look forward to replacing the current paper based data collection system (which is time consuming with data of low quality and quantity) in health facilities with our real-time digital data surveillance system. This will improve the supply chain and patient satisfaction through the improved service delivery basing on the availed accurate data from our system.

Our solution enables health facilities have a centralized data storage system where health workers can retrieve needed information about patients. This information can mean the difference between life and death, not only to that specific patient but also to the society, especially in the case of curbing epidemics and pandemics through the study of various disease patterns using the data collected. Our repository enables the healthcare fraternity make informed decisions about healthcare systems including and not limited to the logistical supply chain. The data helps to assess patients’ needs, plan accordingly, and deliver the actual services needed ensuring health security.

The Yotta system has been piloted in one hundred five (105) health facilities in Mbarara, Rubirizi, Iganga, and Mayuge districts. Additionally, 198 health practitioners in these hospitals have been trained on the use of digital data surveillance tools. Out of the 105 health facilities, 98 of them are using the Yotta system efficiently bringing the retention rate to 93%.

We are providing a systematic approach that involves training of the health practitioners to communicate the benefits of the use of digital tools at the health facility to ease the process and help the practitioner focus on solely saving lives. We further offer a mobile application with offline and online capabilities that help organize hospital data and track patients in real time. This data is also to be relayed to the national disease databases thus supporting the government in reaching the last mile health facilities and access data from them in real time to support them in making informed decisions for the planned interventions. Our approach has not been used before and can be practically replicated in other countries where health systems haven't been able to serve the last mile communities. We have built a network of health care providers consisting of HCs that are connected digitally via the yotta access platform. This platform involves both hardware and software services. Hardware at the health facilities in the form of customized desktop tablets that are to support the running of the software and the yotta cards that will be issued to the patients and can be read by the customized yotta tabs. Patient cards are used to manage & track medication issued, schedule routine visits & also patients saving on the card for health care access topped up with loans. Other innovators and service providers can use the system to deploy similar health applications.

Over the period of one year, we have been able to collect over 30,000 data points from 100 hospitals. Given that at least a patient will visit a hospital average of three times a year, we have reached 10,000 patients in a year and mapped their malaria diagnosis, and learned about the challenges they face at the health facilities. In the next five years with the plans to launch in the East African region and serve 3,000 healthfacilities. We will reach a projected number of more than 300,000 patients with our products that will offer them better services of healthcare delivery at the health facilities which will also in return improve disease surveillance and identification of disease partners 

• Percentage of (health facilities) adopting the use of digital disease surveillance tools.
• Number of health practitioners trained to use digital data surveillance tools disaggregated as male and female.
• Number of other projects/ innovations feeding from the yotta project platform
• Percentage of data sets directly relayed into the DHMIS
• Number of APIs shared with other partners
• Number of disease surveillance policy briefs published
• Number of patient cards issued to patients.
• Number of policy briefs published
• Number of prospective partners MoU signed.

Full time staff - 15

Part time staff - 2

Contractors - 7

Other workers - 7

The team focuses on bridging the gap between communities and their rightful access to healthcare. We leverage our infrastructure, talent and footprint to support a broad spectrum of organizations with rapid deployment and emerging technologies. With a diverse technology, business, research and med tech background, the team has evolved into an advanced solutions provider, focused on servicing customers and creating value through long term relationships and partnerships that we build. The team has vast experience in developing point of care diagnostics like Matibabu( a non invasive malaria diagnostic test)

We are run an open culture where we appreciate and leverage the many differences of matibabu staff and the larger community of health facilities and different stakeholders, and we involve the various communities we serve through partnership. We also believe that diversity in culture drives innovation.  Policies and resources are designed with the goal of providing people of all backgrounds equal opportunity to become successful. The environment is inclusive in that all people feel valued,  headed, and respected. We also use this approach with our customers to ensure that their concerns are addressed. This drives solid community buy-in into the solutions we offer. 

We want to gain access to mentors and group advisors to guide us through the scale of our technology as well as interface with investor groups that can help us raise funds for scaling into other countries.

We require partners to help us solidify our data analysis and shape the data we collect to fit the needs of the customers we are targeting. We are also exploring which hardware can be a custom fit for all last mile health facilities and we think a partnership in the technology sector can help us achieve that.

We are looking to partner with health initiatives/institutions like World Health Organization (WHO) to recommend the solution to countries facing similar disease surveillance challenges, telecom companies to enable last mile coverage, and device manufacturing companies to help us customize devices for health facilities.