Canisa Health

Canisa Health revolutionizes healthcare access with telemedicine by providing early detection, consultation and management of chronic diseases within rural communities in Africa.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), non-communicable diseases (NCDs) kill 41 million people each year, equivalent to 74% of all deaths globally. Of all these deaths, 77% are in low and middle-income countries. However, these diseases are preventable and can be treated before its late stages. Such diseases include cervical cancer, diabetes, stroke, heart attack, and glaucoma. These diseases are on the rise with some of them among the leading causes of death in Ghana. 

Ghana has a population of 31 million. In 2020, life expectancy in the country is 69 years for females and 64 years for males. However, the current life expectancy is 62 years for females and 60 years for males - a noticeable decline. Data from Ecancer Medical Science, World Life Expectancy and Statista has highlighted cervical cancer as the leading cause of women's cancer in Ghana. A recorded all time death toll of women who suffered cervical cancer is 2,161, which is alarming. 

Moreover, 4.16 million Ghanaians have type 2 diabetes and 4.6 million have been tagged prediabetic while 119 per 100,000 persons die from heart attack. Approximately 3 out of 4 Ghanaians diagnosed with stroke die within 8 years after admission with stroke. Glaucoma, which is a leading cause of blindness after cataract, has an estimated number of 700,000 persons suffering from glaucoma. Notably, this rise is due to no early detection for targeted prevention or consistent health check-up and management. 

Factors contributing to these diseases include lack of access to early detection, lack of effective mobile means to reach hospitals and take diagnostic tests, obtain preventive care, education, and socio-economic disparities. Also, internet penetration in Ghana poses a great challenge as 47% of the population is not connected to the internet. This percentage of the population consists of persons living in rural communities. Consequently, the consequences of these identified chronic diseases include increased morbidity and mortality, as well as significant high cost for management of these diseases on individuals, families, and society as a whole. 

Canisa Health believes that with education, early detection, and preventive measures these people can be saved, especially those in identified remote and underserved communities. 

Canisa Health is a telemedicine solution that is dedicated to improving healthcare access in remote and underserved communities. Our focus is on increasing access to care and facilitating early detection of cervical cancer, glaucoma, diabetes, stroke, and heart attack. We use predictive technology to aid early detection of these diseases, so they can be prevented before they cause serious harm. 

Canisa Health is specifically designed to reach individuals in rural communities, such as Berekuso and Kwabenya in Ghana, where internet penetration is low. To do this, we utilise USSD codes and a mobile application to facilitate communication between mobile devices and servers. A patient uses either the USSD code or mobile application to access our platform which guides them through a series of questions about their health and symptoms. The information obtained is securely transmitted to our dedicated team of healthcare professionals who provide treatment recommendations such as in-person consultation, hospital visits, taking a laboratory test and medicine. Using the same USSD code, patients can get these medicines delivered at their doorstep, and certified professionals collect their samples at a specified location with the result delivered securely to them.

Our predictive technology utilizes statistics, natural language processing, data mining, artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to aid hospitals and healthcare professionals on our platform in effectively managing patients, resulting in improved healthcare delivery and better outcomes.

The target population for Canisa Health are rural communities and corporate individuals in Ghana. These individuals face significant healthcare challenges due to a lack of access to preventive care, education, and awareness, as well as socio-economic disparities. These communities are considered underserved as they often have limited access to healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals, leading to delayed diagnosis and treatment of chronic diseases which include cervical cancer, glaucoma, diabetes, stroke, and heart attack.

Additionally, these communities often have low internet penetration, making it difficult for individuals to access telemedicine solutions that rely on internet connectivity. This lack of access to healthcare is amplified by long wait times, and inconveniences faced in travelling long routes to visit hospitals. This has resulted in poorer health outcomes, increased morbidity, mortality, and a significant economic burden on the individuals and their families.

Canisa Health telemedicine service addresses this need by helping patients get faster response either through USSD code or mobile app by streamlining the services of doctors through our platform their way with an increased focus to alleviate the burden. We save them time, and money by ensuring that the services provided are affordable, accurate, and accessible. 

Canisa Health believes our approach will impact lives as it champions the Sustainable Development Goal 3 by 2030 which is to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.

The Canisa Health team is uniquely positioned to deliver solutions and solve problems related to healthcare. The team comprises of:

Favour Madubuko, Founder at Canisa Health, is a sophomore majoring in computer science at Ashesi University Ghana and passionate about healthcare. He comes from a family of healthcare practitioners in Nigeria where both mother and sister serve as specialist nurses in the obstetrics, paediatrics and adult health departments. He has seen first hand the problems caused by poor and late health diagnosis as he is equally a victim. He identifies and relates with the same problem in Ghana as an international student. 

Frank Erzoah-Cudjoe, Co-Founder at Canisa Health and a medical student in his penultimate year at the the University of Ghana. He equally comes from a family of medical practitioners and is currently serving at the University of Ghana Medical Center where he encounters patients who suffer from the very diseases we are passionate about solving. He has a deep understanding of the healthcare system and the needs of the patients. He helps to ensure that our solutions are medically sound. He equally has experience as a Data Scientist through his various internships and trainings. He is passionate and committed to bringing solutions to the problems he currently experiences in his daily practice.

Evans Kumi Jr., a team member at Canisa Health, is a sophomore majoring in Computer Science at Ashesi University Ghana. He is a passionate Software Developer with 3 years of experience building progressive web applications, and mobile applications. He is highly skilled in various programming languages, passionate about healthcare, and always on the lookout for opportunities that allows him contribute to his community.

Sandra Nettey, a team member at Canisa Health, is a Junior majoring in Computer Science at Ashesi University Ghana. She considers herself a philomath and loves to solve problems through the use of technology. She is loves everything about Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing. She is interested in what problems can be solved using these emerging technologies in healthcare. She is equally skilled in programming languages such as HTML, CSS, Python, JavaScript, Databases, Graphics Design and also possess experience in creating web-based solutions. 

In addition, we receive advice and mentorship from two medical professionals - Dr. James Bisiw, an ophthalmologist and director of FreshLuk Eye Centre Accra Ghana and Dr. Dzifa Dey, a physician at the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital Ghana and director Nunana Clinic. Both doctors possess admirable wealth of experience which they transfer to our team by providing advice. Both doctors have more than a combined thirty years of experience working in the healthcare sector and provide valuable guidance on the medical and practical aspects of the solutions we are developing. Their mentorship and support ensures that our solutions are both effective and practical for real-world use.

Lastly, our team is representative of the population we serve as we have a diverse team with different backgrounds and experiences. This diversity is made manifest as our team consists of two nationalities: Nigeria and Ghana, who bring different perspectives and ideas to the table. This is already helping us create solutions that are inclusive and responsive to a diverse population. Moreover, the team consists of persons who have one or more family members suffering from the identified diseases we are creating solutions for - a true representation of creating solutions from our problems and for the society at large.

In understanding the needs of our potential users, we conducted primary and secondary research including surveys, direct and indirect interviews.  From our research, we discovered that awareness of existing solutions, cultural belief, and mindset contributes to an acceleration of identified chronic diseases which are cervical cancer, diabetes, stroke, heart attack, and glaucoma. Out of an indirect interview of 30-192 individuals, we discovered they do not go to the hospital for regular check-ups except they experience symptoms (headache, fever, and dizziness) that they could easily associate with common communicable diseases such as Malaria and Diarrhoea. However, on more specific demands for exclusive interviews with both individuals and doctors, we discovered that some of the identified chronic diseases bear similar symptoms to communicable diseases. Owing to the data obtained and sense making, we were able to engage our primary stakeholders which are hospitals, patients, and clinics. 

Frank (co-founder and medical doctor in training), has had first hand experience of this problem in his field of training and practice as he constantly interacts with affected patients. We also engaged our mentor, Dr. James Bisiw who is a practising ophthalmologist and runs an optical eye clinic. Owing to his practice and consultations at his eye clinic, he sees above 250 patients a week, of which a large percentage of these patients present with severe eye cases such as glaucoma, which could have been remedied had there been an earlier detection.

With this information, we have accelerated our solution approach by engaging and studying  the behavior of our users in interacting with existing mobile applications. From their behavior and responses, we discovered that they need a solution which is flexible and aligns with what they know. This solution falls between the needs of the older generation and the younger generation as we got feedback with various users requesting USSD over mobile applications and vice versa. We also understand that user preferences, emotions and behavior can change overtime, due to this we are always ready to iterate to ensure product-market fit.

Canisa Health differentiates itself from existing solutions in that it uses the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) technology which is generally known for checking account balances and recharge airtime. In the context of Canisa Health, USSD allows patients to get quick and easy access to healthcare information and service through simple text message prompts on any mobile phone. The user dials code using a feature phone, chooses desired language, enters required information (age, name, symptoms, existing condition), receives confirmation about their information, gets response from specific health practitioner who has received the query, follows instructions given, and terminates the process after following instruction. To promote inclusivity, Canisa Health makes use of local language support to ensure that the user can communicate with little or no knowledge of English language. This is to ensure that literacy level does not serve as a barrier to accessing healthcare.

This is particularly useful in areas with limited internet access as USSD does not require an internet connection. While we recognize the impact of existing solutions, the problems encountered in healthcare are too great to be solved by one approach. This is evident as the outbreak of COVID-19 crisis provides a renewed focus on healthcare, quality service delivery, and innovation.

Additionally, Canisa Health is developing a mobile application that utilizes artificial intelligence to provide personalized and efficient care to patients. This includes triage, diagnosis, and treatment recommendations, as well as follow-up care. The combination of USSD and Artificial Intelligence (AI) allows for increased accessibility and efficiency in delivering healthcare to patients. This delivery includes scheduling appointments with doctors, virtual and in-person consultation, refilling medications, and receiving health tips.

Canisa Health works with five key stakeholders to deliver the best outcomes thereby reducing the popular barriers like long wait times, and lack of access to qualified laboratory tests for appropriate health investigations. These five stakeholders include local mobile operators, doctors, hospitals, pharmacies, and laboratory test centers. Most importantly our solution ensures we connect a vast number of patients to clinical facilities for closed monitoring and efficient healthcare management - a positive impact that ensures affordability and accessibility.

Our impact goals for next year and how we will achieve them next year include:

1. Increasing the number of patients we serve: Canisa Health aims to expand our operation by launching marketing campaigns to increase awareness and partnering with healthcare providers to attract new patients who are currently facing health problems we are tackling.

2. Improving patient outcomes: Canisa Health is committed to ensuring that patients receive the best possible care. We will be implementing strict data security measures and implementing regular evaluation of our AI system to track patient outcomes and enable doctors identify areas for improvement.

3. Training and orientation for healthcare providers: Canisa Health’s biggest win is to see patients not falling ill. To achieve this, healthcare providers will be trained on appropriate use of our system to ensure guided precision care.

4. Reducing healthcare costs and patient engagement:  Canisa Health believes that our solution will greatly reduce healthcare costs, engage patients and reduce the need for in-person visits. We will track our costs and compare them to traditional healthcare delivery models to demonstrate the cost saving benefits of Canisa Health.

5. Increasing geographical coverage: Canisa Health will be aiming for expansion of our services to new local communities within Ghana. This will involve partnering with local healthcare providers and adapting our solution to meet the specific needs of those areas.

Altogether, Canisa Health will be using a combination of partnerships, marketing, data analytics, user feedback, and regular evaluations of our services. We will be making adjustments and monitoring our services to ensure commitment to meeting our goals.

The core technology that powers our solution is a combination of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

USSD is a protocol that allows for easy access to healthcare information and services through simple text messages on a mobile phone. Patients can use USSD to check symptoms, get advice from doctors on self-care, and schedule appointments. This is particularly useful in rural areas of Ghana with limited internet access, as USSD does not require an internet connection.

AI is used to provide personalized and efficient care to patients. The AI-powered mobile application in our solution can be used for tasks such as triage, diagnosis, and guided treatment recommendations from doctors. The AI system can also be used for follow-up care, where patients can receive reminders and updates on their treatment plan.

The combination of USSD and AI allows for increased accessibility and efficiency in delivering healthcare to patients. Patients can quickly and easily access healthcare information and services through simple text messages on their mobile phone, and receive guided personalized care through the mobile application powered by AI.

The AI system will be built using machine learning techniques such as natural language processing, computer vision and decision tree algorithms. The AI algorithms are trained on a large dataset of patient information and medical knowledge which helps it to make accurate diagnosis and treatment recommendations. The USSD system and the AI system are integrated together to provide a seamless experience to the patient and the healthcare providers. The data from the USSD system and mobile application is fed to the AI system and the AI system returns the diagnosis and guided treatment recommendations which are then sent back to the patient via USSD

We have not yet launched our solution but we have gotten traction with a private eye clinic overseeing 2550 patient visits in a month. Based on this, we plan to serve 1,500 patients in the next year. This number represents different categories of patients we expect our telemedicine solution to directly and meaningfully affect. We will be working to increase our reach by partnering with more healthcare providers and implementing targeted marketing campaigns to attract new patients.

1. Financial constraints: As a startup, we will constantly face financial constraints that can limit our operational abilities to serve patients, and healthcare providers efficiently, expand our reach and increase our marketing efforts. 

2. Technical challenges: Canisa Health runs on cutting-edge technology, and serious technical challenges will arise as we scale up our operations. Moreover, large amounts of data is to be collected to ensure accurate prediction scores from our AI system which will be a major challenge to our technical prowess. We will encounter challenges related to data security and privacy, infrastructural maintenance, electricity costs, ability for our AI system to handle large volumes of patient requests, data availability and data sharing.

3. Legal and regulatory barriers: Since the use of Artificial Intelligence presents more skepticism than ever before, the laws guiding “ethics by design” must be thoroughly followed to ensure there is high precision of care. This brings African government and private regulatory bodies to our neck as we must adhere to the ever-changing policies which might arise at unprecedented times. 

4. Cultural barriers: Canisa Health will face cultural barriers that might limit our ability to effectively reach and serve certain populations as certain groups, or cultures may be more skeptical of telemedicine or less comfortable with technology.

5. Market barriers: The telemedicine market is still relatively new and constantly evolving, so it can be challenging to predict and adapt to changes in the market.

Ashesi University Entrepreneurship Centre provides advice and mentorship 

Ashesi University Design Lab provides technical advice

Fresh Luk Eye Center, Accra Ghana offers traction for product-market fit

Canisa Health serves patients from low-income areas. Our unique value proposition is connecting patients in rural communities suffering from cervical cancer, diabetes, glaucoma, heart attack and stroke to qualified doctors. We provide a USSD service and a mobile application where patients can easily access doctors for early detection, regular check-ups and screenings, treatment and management of their chronic diseases. 

To reach out to more patients, Canisa Health integrates the widely used mobile platform in Africa which are MTN and Vodafone networks together with their payment services which are Mobile Money and Vodafone cash respectively. We generate revenue by charging a fee on the USSD code and in the app to access any service. Out of the fees paid, we take 15% cut as profit while the rest goes to the healthcare provider and network provider at a ratio of 70:30.

Using these available resources, the patients can make in-app purchases or USSD code purchase of needed medicines, request laboratory tests, and consultations. This service is needed by patients because there is an ever-growing case of glaucoma and diabetes at our traction facility, FreshLuk Eye Center, Accra Ghana and at Canisa Health Co-founder’s practice facility, University of Ghana Medical center respectively.

Canisa Health plans to enter into service contracts with government hospitals, insurance companies and private healthcare providers to provide our telemedicine solution to ailing patients. This will provide a steady stream of revenue to fund our operations. We also plan to sell additional products on our platform which is a market-place for medicines and offer general consultation service and insurance plans to corporate organisations with a good number of employees.

Canisa Health will be applying for grants from health tech accelerators and incubators, non-governmental organisations and foundations to help fund specific initiatives or programs which are health education and awareness. We will also be seeking investment capital from competitions, personal funding, venture capitalists, angel investors, and any other available sources to help fund our growth and operations.