My Personal Health Bank

In the world there are 152 developing countries with a current population of around 6.62 billion. Academic research shows that there are benefits of digitalization in the healthcare sector in developing countries, e.g., in Africa (Kabukye 2022). However, in most developing countries and for people on the move there are no central or national healthcare systems with electronic medical journals in place. Today most records are completed manually using pen and paper with the risk of losing the documentation. This means that there is a high risk that patient data will be lost between treatments, or in transfer between treatment units and facilities. Resulting from a lack of or insufficient records of symptoms, diagnoses, and treatments, today's patients do not get optimal primary healthcare. 

Most people in developing countries and people on the move have access to some kind of digital device, either they own a device themselves or can access a device at e.g. a community center. Alone in Tanzania, 48 mio. people out of a population of 59 mio. own a cell phone.

Our solution will empower all patients in developing countries and people on the move by making sure that their health data can be digitally collected, stored and accessed through providing them with a user-friendly solution, My Personal Health Bank. It is available in a simple web application accessible on any kind of digital device through the creation of an account and will help them keep track of their most important primary healthcare related data, including completed and planned treatments, diagnoses, tests, medication, allergies etc., and thereby secure safety of treatment. 

Furthermore, healthcare providers using our solution will optimize primary healthcare performance, safety and efficiency by a full overview, measuring and updating of the patient’s health data, including follow-up during treatment. 

This means that our end-users are both patients and public/private healthcare providers, giving patients access to their own health data and health care providers a tool to optimize primary healthcare performance. 

The updating of health data also gives the healthcare providers and others such as national health insurance systems, governments, researchers or NGO's the opportunity to measure the improvement of primary healthcare performance by following patients' data on diagnosis, treatment and recovery as a result of it. All data provided will be anonymized and standardized. 

The uniqueness of our solution is that the patient has the right to access their own health data saved in the cloud and that it is accessed through a web application making the data available at any time and at any given location. During a visit to the healthcare provider the patient allows the healthcare provider access to the personal health data. The patient continually has the right the grant, limit and reject access, meaning that the patient data and access rights are fully patient-owned. When the healthcare provider updates the records they are available for all subsequent diagnosis and treatment by any healthcare provider (public and private) granted access by the patient, improving continuum of care and primary healthcare performance.

To secure we achieve these goals we are continually designing our solution in collaboration with and for patients and healthcare providers in developing countries and for people on the move, e.g., through conducting a feasibility study on 6 health facilities in Tanzania in collaboration with two Tanzanian universities.

Our target population is patients and healthcare providers in developing countries and people on the move. 

As of today, in most developing countries and for people on the move there are no central or national healthcare systems with electronic medical journals in place. If a national healthcare system exits it does not secure continuum of care between treatments, or in transfer between treatment units and facilities because it only serves a specific hospital/clinic or do not support integration with other solutions, making primary healthcare inefficient. Most records are completed manually using pen and paper with the risk of losing the documentation.

Therefore, we improve patients and healthcare providers healthcare by:

1. Registering and measuring primary healthcare data 

2. Giving access to primary healthcare data for patients and healthcare providers to secure informed decision making and patient empowerment 

3. Optimizing performance, efficiency and safety of primary healthcare 

4. Securing continuum of care between treatments or in transfer between treatment units and facilities 

5. Making easy contact btw. patient and healthcare providers

6. Securing cost-savings for both patients and the healthcare systems

7. Giving relevant authorities, e.g., governments, researchers or others access to reports with anonymized aggregated data and thereby the opportunity to measure improvement of primary healthcare performance. This will make preventive healthcare actions possible to improve primary healthcare locally, regionally or nationally. 

The idea behind My Personal Health Bank came from one of our co-founders visiting the doctor in Tanzania seeing that health data were recorded using pen and paper. With a background in health IT an idea began to develop in her - a digital web-application for health data for patients and healthcare providers. 

For this reason, from the very beginning of My Personal Health Bank the needs of the communities we serve - patients and healthcare providers in developing countries and people on the move - and the inclusion of locals in the whole process have been of utmost importance in the design and implementation of our solution. 

Therefore, we are partnering with the Southern University of Denmark, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied sciences in Tanzania & University Of Dodoma in Tanzania. In partnership with these universities, we are since June 2022 conducting a feasibility study in Tanzania lasting for 8 months, including 6 hospitals, 24 clinicians, 100 patients á week per clinician and 2400 patients per month. The purpose of the feasibility study is to understand the needs of patients and healthcare providers in developing countries, here Tanzania, to improve our solution and better serve them with Health data today - Healthcare tomorrow. The feasibility study will be conducted qualitatively as well as quantitatively by field observations on sites and by conducting interviews with different stakeholders and users; Doctors, Nurses, Patients, and their relatives. In addition, questionnaires specially developed to evaluate a user perspective on our solution will be conducted with clinicians and patients. 

About every half a year we are visiting our partners in Tanzania, every week we have follow-up meetings with them and almost daily contact to get feedback, input, ideas and cooperate on development of our solution to make sure that it is meaningful for patients and healthcare providers in developing countries and people on the move. To strengthen our solution even further with inputs from other patients and healthcare providers, we will also conduct a feasibility study in Rwanda. 

Besides, the team behind our solution jointly have more than 50 years of experience from IT, healthcare, business development, public/private business and collaboration & start-up’s. With the closeness to our partners in Tanzania and up-coming in Rwanda as well as our joint competences and experience we believe we can launch both a great product and develop the right business model - both key factors for achieving our vision Health data today - Healthcare tomorrow.

Our primary challenges are to get the needed finances for our solution and our first customers. We hope that this Challenge will help us overcome it so we can continue to work for Health data today - Healthcare tomorrow in developing countries and for people on the move.

Specifically, we need finances to conduct the upcoming feasibility study in Rwanda and to pay employees. Also, for the on-going technical development of our solution to make sure that our solution continually is the best solution for the markets. There will also be a development cost to make integrations with public healthcare systems and special development for partners and NGO's. 

We hope, with the support from this Challenge, to be able to finish our feasibility studies making our solution ready to scale up and getting our first customers in Tanzania and Rwanda as well as launch on other markets, e.g., Kenya, Nigeria, Burundi etc. who are very interested in our solution.  

1Our solution is patient-owned. Instead of a comprehensive electronic health system with the hospital/clinic in focus we put the patient first. It is a low cost solution easily available for patients in developing countries that are low-income countries and for people on the move; accessible simply through a device with a web access such as a cell phone that most people in developing countries and people on the move own. To make sure it is most accessible it is a plug-and-play solution where patients and healthcare providers can use it immediately; requiring only a minor level of connectivity and bandwidth. Also, the patient's data is only accessible for healthcare providers granted access by the patient. The patient continually has the right the grant, limit and reject the healthcare provider's access. Importantly, our solution is designed to keep both patients’ and healthcare providers’ data secure and in respect of personal privacy. 

Today, most health records are completed manually using pen and paper. This means that patient data are easily lost, destroyed or is not accessible for other healthcare providers. Our cloud solution secures that patient data is always accessible for both the patient and the healthcare providers, securing continuum of care.

Other available healthcare apps are typically related to a specific area such as Diabetes, Maternity etc. and are not integrated with other solutions. For instance when a woman has had a child (e.g., Maternity app) she stops using the app. For this reason, a lot of information is lost and the app is no longer useful for her. Our solution - designed with open standards - makes it possible to integrate with other apps related to specific areas (e.g. Diabetes, Maternity etc.), also securing a continuing treatment and a database for all health areas.

If a digital health solution does exist in developing countries and for people on the move it is typically not possible to integrate with other solutions, it is not patient-owned and it is not accessible from other hospitals/clinics. For this reason, we see the need for a comprehensive user-friendly patient-owned digital health solution, securing continuum of care and empowering the patient. 

Furthermore, our solution makes it possible for governments, researchers or others with permission to make anonymized reports to see the development and improvement of healthcare performance in different areas, ages, sexes etc. This will be a significant tool to take preventive action against the spread of diseases. 

IMPACT GOALS FOR THE NEXT YEAR 

In the next year our impact goals are:

1. To secure continuum of care and optimize primary healthcare performance for patients and healthcare providers in Dodoma, Tanzania.
   
   We will achieve it by implementing and developing our solution through conducting a feasibility study in Dodoma, Tanzania in cooperation with the Southern University of Denmark (SDU), Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) and the University of Dodoma School of Nursing and Public Health (UDOM) in Tanzania. 
   
   
2. To secure continuum of care and optimize primary healthcare performance for patients and healthcare providers in Rwanda. 
   
   We will achieve it by implementing and developing our solution through starting a feasibility study in Rwanda in cooperation with Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC).

IMPACT GOALS FOR THE NEXT FIVE YEARS 

In the next five years our impact goals are:

1. To secure continuum of care and optimize primary healthcare performance for all patients and healthcare providers in Tanzania.
   
   We will achieve it by 1) conducting the feasibility study in Dodoma, Tanzania, 2) developing our solution, 3) building relationships and network with relevant governments and NGO's, 4) entering partnership / customer agreements and 5) implementing our solution.
   
   
2. To secure continuum of care and optimize primary healthcare performance for all patients and healthcare providers in Rwanda.
   
   We will achieve it by 1) conducting the feasibility study in Rwanda, 2) developing our solution, 3) building relationships and network with relevant governments and NGO's, 4) entering partnership / customer agreements and 5) implementing our solution.
   
   
3. To secure continuum of care and optimize primary healthcare performance for 100 mio. patients and healthcare providers in developing countries and for people on the move in Sub-Saharan African.
   
   We will achieve it by 1) sharing results from feasibility studies, 2) developing our solution, 3) posting content on LinkedIn, 4) building relationships and network with relevant governments and NGO's, 5) entering partnership/customer agreements and 6) implementing our solution.

MEASURABLE INDICATORS FOR IMPACT GOALS FOR THE NEXT YEAR

(Please be aware: Measurable indicators are listed with letters "a, b, c...")

In the next year our impact goals are:

1. To secure continuum of care and optimize primary healthcare performance for patients and healthcare providers in Dodoma, Tanzania.
   
   1) Implementing and developing our solution through conducting a feasibility study in Dodoma, Tanzania
   a. Local Project Assistants train and assist the local healthcare providers in the use of My Personal Health Bank web-application by visit to the 6 hospitals by 15 July and on-going through the study.
   b. Conduct and finish feasibility study by 28 Feb 2023 with 6 hospitals, 24 clinicians, 100 patients á week per clinician and 2400 patients per month in 8 months in cooperation with SDU, MUHAS and UDOM.
   c. Release a monthly update of our solution based on results from the feasibility study; specifically feedback from clinicians and patients in surveys and interviews.
2. To secure continuum of care and optimize primary healthcare performance for patients and healthcare providers in Rwanda. 
   
   1) Implementing and developing our solution through conducting a feasibility study in Rwanda.
   a. Local Project Assistants train and assist the local healthcare providers in the use of My Personal Health Bank web-application by visit to 10 hospitals by 30 Jan 2023 and on-going through the study
   b. Conduct feasibility study from Jan 2023 with 10 hospitals for 18 months in cooperation with RBC.
   c. Release a monthly update of our solution based on results from the feasibility study; specifically feedback from clinicians and patients in surveys and interviews. 

MEASURABLE INDICATORS FOR IMPACT GOALS FOR THE NEXT FIVE YEARS 

(Please be aware: Measurable indicators are listed with letters "a, b, c...")

In the next five year our impact goals are:

1. To secure continuum of care and optimize primary healthcare performance for all patients and healthcare providers in Tanzania.
   
   1) Conducting the feasibility study in Dodoma, Tanzania to demonstrate the benefit of our solution
   a. Conduct and finish feasibility study by 28 Feb 2023 with 6 hospitals, 24 clinicians, 100 patients á week per clinician and 2400 patients per month in 8 months in cooperation with SDU, MUHAS and UDOM.
   
   2) Developing our solution
   a. Release a monthly update of our solution based on results from the feasibility study and afterwards from feedback from partnership / customers.
   
   3) Building relationships and network with relevant governments and NGO's
   a. Meetings with Ministry of Health, National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) and African Development Bank in Aug/Sep 2022
   b. 3-5 meetings with relevant governments and NGO's every half year we visit Tanzania
   c. Continuosly asking our contact persons in relevant governments, NGO's and universities to ask for referrals to relevant partners/customers
   
   4) Entering partnership / customer agreements
   a. Enter agreement with Ministry of Health and NHIF in Tanzania by Dec 2022 
   b. Enter partnership / customer agreements with another NGO (e.g., Flying Doctors, Wings of Hope) in Tanzania by Q1 2023. 
   
   5) Implementing our solution
   a. Start implementing our solution in accordance to agreement with Ministry of Health and NHIF by Jul 2023 
   b. Start implementing our solution in accordance to partnership / customer agreements with another NGO by Q3 2023 
   c. Our solution is used by 85% of hospitals/clinics in Tanzania by Jul 2025
2. To secure continuum of care and optimize primary healthcare performance for all patients and healthcare providers in Rwanda.
   
   1) Conducting the feasibility study in Rwanda to demonstrate the benefit of our solution 
   a. Conduct feasibility study from Jan 2023 with 10 hospitals for 18 months in partnership with RBC
   
   2) Developing our solution
   a. Release a monthly update of our solution based on results from the feasibility study and afterwards from feedback from partnership / customers.
   
   3) Building relationships and network with relevant governments and NGO's
   a. Meetings with Ministry of Health and Caritas in Oct 2022
   b. 3-5 meetings with relevant governments and NGO's every half year we visit Rwanda 
   c. Continuosly asking our contact persons in relevant governments, NGO's and universities to ask for referrals to relevant partners/customers
   
   4) Entering partnership / customer agreements 
   a. Enter partnership / customer agreements with relevant governments and NGO's, e.g., Ministry of Health and Caritas, in Rwanda by Q2 2024. 
   
   5) Implementing our solution
   a. Start implementing our solution in accordance to partnership / customer agreements by Q4 2024.
   b. Our solution is used by 50% of hospitals/clinics in Rwanda by Q3 2027
3. To secure continuum of care and optimize primary healthcare performance for 100 mio. patients and healthcare providers in developing countries and for people on the move in Sub-Saharan African.
   
   1) Sharing results from feasibility studies 
   a. Include results from feasibility studies in My Personal Health Bank presentation material and sales pitches/conversations - deadline Tanzania 15 Mar 2023 + deadline Rwanda Aug 2024.
   
   2) Developing our solution
   a. Release a monthly update of our solution based on results from the feasibility studies and afterwards from feedback from partnership / customers.
   
   3) Posting content on LinkedIn 
   a. Post content at least once a week on LinkedIn with news from My Personal Health Bank, the feasibility studies, results, new partnerships etc.
   
   4) Building relationships and network with relevant governments and NGO's
   a. Be present at network events, e.g., Keystones membership events (TBA), Ghana Denmark Business Forum (22 Sep 2022), participate in UN delegation to Rwanda (Q4 2022)
   b. Participate in at least 2 meetings and/or network events with potential partners/customers every month
   
   5) Entering partnership/customer agreements
   a. Enter into at least one partnership/customer agreements every year for the next five years until Aug 2027.
   
   6) Implementing our solution
   a. Start implementing our solution in accordance to at least one partnership / customer agreement every year for the next five years until Aug 2027.

Academic research confirms the benefits of digitalization in the healthcare sector in developing countries, specifically Africa (Kabukye 2022). In response to this, My Personal Health Bank offers a web-application with health data for patients and healthcare providers in developing countries and for “people on the move”. 

To secure the best implementation local project assistants are training and assisting the local healthcare providers in the use of My Personal Health Bank web-application. The web-application is an affordable low-cost and user-friendly solution which is available on all devices with a web access, such as cell phones, tables, computers etc. making it available for the wider populations, only requiring a lower level of connectivity and bandwidth. As a matter of fact, most people in developing countries own a cell phone; in Tanzania that amounts to 48 mio. people out of a population of 59 mio. 

Through our web-application our immediate goals are to give patients access to and ownership of their health data, including completed and planned treatments, diagnoses, tests, medication, allergies as well as easy communication with healthcare providers etc. Also, healthcare providers can view, measure and update the patient’s healthcare data and performance which can be used in diagnosing, subscription of medication, treatment, and follow-up as well as communication with the patients.

This lays the ground for informed decision-making for the healthcare provider, securing the long term outcomes continuum of care between treatments and health facilities as well as safe, efficient, and optimized treatment for the patients; in all improvement of primary healthcare performance. Through relationships and preliminary interviews with local patients, healthcare providers and potential customers we have been confirmed that our solution has the potential to improve healthcare while empowering the patients through a web-application that is patient-owned.

Health data today – Healthcare tomorrow. 

Our solution is a cloud based software as a service via a progressive web app on personal computers, tablets, and smartphones. We provide a secure and patient controlled access to health data, and local storage on devices as encrypted data. Furthermore, event and document databases for clinical content and demographic health information as well as open API based on the international HL7 FHIR standard to enable integration with clinical solutions and medical devices. All to be used for better healthcare in developing countries and for people on the move.

The healthcare providers collect and update the patient health data in My Personal Health Bank web-application as part of the consultation. Their incentive to do so is most importantly to optimize treatment, safety and efficiency as well as secure continuum of care for the patient. Furthermore, the patients will own their own data and be able to access their health data at all times making it attractive for the patient to use our web-application. 

In My Personal Health Bank we welcome people of all social, cultural or identity-based attributes and value diversity, equity and inclusion because we believe it will strengthen our team and solution with different perspectives. To achieve this goal we include diversity, equity and inclusion as factors to take into consideration e.g., when hiring or advancing people for our team, when making decisions and when implementing and developing our solution.

Our leadership team consists of a man and woman in the age 45-50 with many years of experience. To increase diversity and promote equity the first employee, our Project Coordinator, was a young newly graduated woman with fresh perspective and an academic approach. Another step has been to establish an Advisory Board with members from different professional backgrounds. Furthermore, for the feasibility study in Dodoma, Tanzania besides hiring two local Professors we have hired two local young Project Assistants to make sure we get the perspectives from people that are living in our target markets and securing opportunities for the local young professional generation. 

To secure inclusion all members of our team are part of a follow-up group where all perspectives are listened to and taken into consideration. Also, we are encouraging all members to sharing their opinions and encourage each other for work that is well done. An example is that we have made a LinkedIn post letting everyone know that our local Project Assistants from Tanzania are doing a good job to make sure they feel respected and valued.  

The customers of My Personal Health Bank are primarily governments, NGO's or Health Insurance (public-private). We have a license based business model where customers buy a certain number of licenses for a country, region, group, etc., making our solution free-of-cost for the patient. The license gives access to My Personal Health Bank web-application for the customer's target group.  

The customer's incentives to buy licenses from My Personal Health Bank are among others: To give access to health data and improve healthcare performance in their nation, region, group etc.; cost-savings with more efficient healthcare; measure the improvement of healthcare performance and take preventive actions against diseases through anonymized reports; as a Health Insurance company to provide benefits for their customers giving them a competitive advantage. 

We plan on becoming financially sustainable by entering customer agreements with governments, NGO's and health insurance companies where they buy licenses on behalf of their clients. Also, through entering partnership agreements with other companies, NGO's etc. offering other digital healthcare solutions and integrate it with My Personal Health Bank web-application, securing a more comprehensive healthcare and continuum of care.

We have received the following funding per Aug 2022: 

- Digitaliseringsboost: 430.000 DKK (58.929,77 USD)

- Innobooster, Innovation Fund Denmark: 430.500 DKK (59.019,01 USD)

- Validate Global: 182.062,27 DKK (25.000 USD)

- Private investor: 2.000.000 DKK (274.631,30 USD)

- SMV:Vækstpilot: 75.000 DKK (10.278,45 USD)

- Microsoft for Start-ups: 36.412,46 DKK (5.000 USD)

- Founders of My Personal Health Bank: 1.300.000 DKK (178.159,78 USD)

- REDPreneur: 145.649,82 DKK (20.000 USD)

In all: 4.599.624,95 DKK (631.600,50 USD) 

Furthermore, we are in the process of raising 1.5-2 mio. DKK (205.973,48-274.631,3 USD) through the investor network Keystones and have been promised 725.000 DKK (99.553,85 USD).