MobiKlinic eHealth Initiative

In Uganda 8 in 10 people reside in rural areas yet these areas are neglected in health service delivery despite being where the majority of the citizens live. It is therefore no surprise that 25 women die daily while giving birth under the care of unskilled birth attendants. MobiKlinic is committed to solving this problem. We empower Community Health Professionals (CHPs) through training on maternal & child health, recognition of suspected cases of epidemic prone diseases, treatment of some diseases and health education. They are then deployed into the community with the MobiKlinic mobile application to provide door to door health services to women and other patients in rural communities. Through our solution, patients in these rural communities no longer need to worry about long distances to the health centers as our CHPs are available in the community to render the basic health services that they need.

According to the World Economic Forum 3.5 billion people live in last mile areas and face difficulty in accessing healthcare. Of these, 500 million are found in Africa. In Uganda, 8 in 10 people live in last mile villages and peri urban areas of the country. Many of these people have to walk distances of over 12 km to reach the nearest health center, a journey that takes 2 hours on average. Pregnant women in these communities find themselves greatly affected. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic access to health services in these areas has become more difficult. Movement restrictions and health workforce overwhelmed by the increasing number of COVID-19 patients among other factors have led to reduction in accessing health services such as antenatal care, HIV, malaria and vaccination. The vulnerable in the population such as pregnant women find themselves greatly affected.

The solution utilizes a fusion of physical and digital interventions. Community health professionals (CHPs) empowered through training on maternal & child health, recognition of suspected cases of epidemic prone diseases, treatment of some diseases and health education. They are then deployed into the community with the MobiKlinic mobile application to provide door to door health services to women and other patients in rural communities. Through the application CHPs are able to record patient data, request assistance from distant physicians in case patients present with complicate cases and request for ambulances that facilitate referrals to health centers that we collaborate with. The storage of patient data by the digital tool comes in handy in situations such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. MobiKlinic is much needed in during this pandemic to bring health services safely to people’s door steps.

MobiKlinic has been providing door to door health services in rural communities of Buikwe district in Central Uganda since 2019. Our target population has been mainly women of reproductive age (15-49 years). Men and children have also benefited from our services. Before the roll out of services, consultations were made with select village health teams (VHTs) and women within the communities to determine community health needs. It is through such meetings that we established that people particularly pregnant women experienced great difficulty in accessing health services due to long distances (average of 12 km) from health centers, a journey that takes on average 2 hours. Other challenges included drug stock outs in government health facilities, health worker absenteeism hence poor service delivery. The MobiKlinic initiative was therefore established to ensure that rural communities in the district have access to the basic health services that they need as well as an integrated referral systems where patients can be referred to health centers that we collaborate with.

Our solution covers the aspect of last mile primary healthcare providers and we are committed to empowering them with necessary knowledge, skills and tools to ably detect and respond to disease outbreaks among other health issues in rural communities. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic now more than ever is a strong community based health system required to ensure that rural residents are able to receive the basic health services that they need at their doorstep despite the pandemic and its associated effects. The target population are the women, men and children in rural communities.  

We are in the growth stage of our solution. In Buikwe district we currently operate in the Parishes of Kiyindi, Tukulu and Kinoni. A total of 20 community health professionals have been trained thus far. A total of 6000 people have benefited from our services of which 67% have been female. We are therefore in a position where we plan to improve on our digital tool and replicate our services to other communities.  

Our services are premised on innovation. Creative and new ways of connecting patients to health facilities and physicians/nurses are inculcated in our functioning/operation. Key to this is leveraging on the relationships our community health professionals have with community members as well as establishing relationships and collaborations with health centers in the district in which we operate in. In a time where people’s movements are restricted and the few health workers in health centers are being overwhelmed by the increasing COVID-19, patients in rural areas shouldn’t be neglected. It is essential that healthcare is provided at their doorsteps by people they trust. A pregnant woman in a village in Buikwe district, Central Uganda needs not to worry about receiving the antenatal care that she needs during the pandemic period because our unique solution ensures that a community health professional is always available in her community. 

Current number being served – 6000

Number to be served in a year – 10,000

Number to be served in 5 years – 60,000

Number of community health professionals (CHPs) trained and equipped with the digital tool.

Number of virtual doctors recruited.

Percentage of CHPs who consult physicians through the application.

Referrals made by CHPs.

Number of pregnant women managed for communicable diseases through our Digital Maternal Health Program.

Number of pregnant women managed for non-communicable diseases through our Digital Maternal Health Program.

Number of pregnant women who have safely given birth through our Digital Maternal Health Program.

Proportion of women and children who have completed their multi vial dose vaccines.

9 full time staff

The core MobiKlinic administration comprises of 2 public health professionals, 3 doctors, a lawyer, software developer and 2 accountants. Our founder and CEO largely grew up in a rural community in Uganda and has experienced difficulty in accessing healthcare firsthand. This greatly motivated him to start the MobiKlinic initiative with the vision of revolutionizing access to healthcare. All team members in their different backgrounds are united by this vision and complement each other and tirelessly work together to ensure that this vision is attained. 

Diversity: At MobiKlinic we acknowledge that people are different and do not discriminate against anyone but rather take advantage of diversity to come up with solutions that will be of benefit to the people that we serve.

Equity: MobiKlinic is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate anyone based on religion, race, gender, social economic status among other demographic factors. Everyone is given a genuine opportunity to flourish and develop.

Inclusion: Our solution was designed with the underserved population in mind. We believe that to no one can understand a problem better than the community members who reside in the rural areas that we serve. Rural residents were not left out in the development of our solution but rather participated and freely gave their views regarding the solution before it was rolled out.

Our solution is in line with the health security and pandemic challenge area of the Solve challenge. Barriers we require assistance with include the need for developing a business model. Provision of health services at a cost in rural areas can be challenging due to the general low economic status of the people there. We often face a challenge raising funds through this means. We therefore believe that the experienced and knowledgeable team at Solve will help us in drafting a business model that will help us in our sustainability in the long run. 

We require assistance in fine tuning our business model as well as linking us to potential investors and providing us with tips before reaching out to those potential investors.

We are open to partner with organizations that have an interest in utilizing community health to increase healthcare access in rural areas especially now in this pandemic period. Assistance to us could be provided through exchange of knowledge and expertise as well as funding.

The target population of our solution is women and girls in rural areas. The solution seeks to improve their quality of life by bringing health services that they need at their doorsteps. Women especially when pregnant find themselves among the vulnerable people in the population. With our solution however, pregnant women no longer need to worry about long distances to facilities and accessing antenatal care because through our mobile community health professionals they can access these services.

Community health workers are at the center of our solution. The digital tool they are equipped with has the potential to be utilized to track vaccines that have been administered to patients as well as remind them which patients are due for their next vaccination thus ensuring vaccine utilization in rural areas.