My Personal Health Bank

In the world there are 152 developing countries with a current population of around 6.62 billion. Also, according to UNHCR “at least 82.4 million people around the world have been forced to flee their homes” at the end of 2020 (UNHCR 2021). Academic research shows that there are benefits of digitalization in the healthcare sector in developing countries, e.g., in Africa (Kabukye 2022). However, in fragile contexts such as most developing countries and for people on the move there are no central or national healthcare systems with electronic medical journals in place. E.g., in 2017 there were only implemented e-health solutions in 26 cases in 14 out of 46 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. This means that today most records are completed manually using pen and paper with the risk of losing the documentation. This results in a high risk that patient data will be lost between treatments, or in transfer between treatment units and facilities or displacement. The challenge gets even bigger when crises, natural disasters, conflict etc. occur and health data get lost or is not available. Resulting from a lack of or insufficient records of symptoms, diagnoses, and treatments, today's patients in fragile contexts do not get access to quality healthcare, meaning that health systems in fragile contexts have a low resilience, especially when destabilizing events occur. 

Most people in fragile contexts such as 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, even when destabilizing events occur. 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 healthcare, safety and efficiency by a full overview and updating of the patient’s health data, including follow-up during treatment.  

The updating of health data also gives the healthcare providers and others such as governments, researchers or NGO's the opportunity to get insight into statistics / reporting of diagnoses and treatment on different demographics, e.g., age, gender, location etc. which can be used in tracking and prevention of disease outbreaks, planning and optimizing treatment and medication as well as a variety of research. The purpose is to improve resilience in health systems in developing countries and for people on the move which will be extremely important when destabilizing events occur. 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, also when displaced e.g., due to a natural disaster. 

During a visit to the healthcare provider the patient grants 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 healthcare.

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 (Jun 22-Feb 23) and further studies. 

By doing so we will build resilience in health systems in developing countries and for people on the move and secure access to health data and healthcare despite destabilizing events. 

Our target population is patients and healthcare providers in developing countries and people on the move, also under destabilizing events. 

As of today, in fragile contexts such as most developing countries and for people on the move there are no central or national healthcare systems with electronic medical journals in place. E.g., in 2017 there were only implemented e-health solutions in 26 cases in 14 out of 46 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. 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 healthcare inefficient and unresilient. The challenge gets even bigger when crises, natural disasters, conflict etc. occur and health data get lost or is not available. Most records are completed manually using pen and paper with the risk of losing the documentation and thereby preventing access to quality healthcare.

Therefore, we improve patients and healthcare providers healthcare by:

1. Registering healthcare data 

2. Giving access to healthcare data for patients and healthcare providers through a simple web-application -  no matter the location - to secure informed decision making and patient empowerment 

3. Optimizing quality, efficiency and safety of healthcare and health systems 

4. Securing continuum of care between treatments or in transfer between treatment units, facilities, regions or even countries

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 get insight into statistics / reporting of diagnoses and treatment on different demographics, e.g., age, gender, location etc. which can be used in tracking and prevention of disease outbreaks, planning and optimizing treatment and medication as well as a variety of research. All data provided will be anonymized and standardized. 

Together, this will build resilience in health systems and secure access to health data and thereby quality healthcare in fragile contexts such as developing countries and for people on the move which will be extremely important under destabilizing events. 

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 in fragile contexts we serve - patients and healthcare providers in developing countries and people on the move, also under destabilizing event - 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 have from June 2022 - Feb 2023 conducted a feasibility study in Tanzania, including 6 hospitals, 24 clinicians, 100 patients á week per clinician and 2400 patients per month. The purpose of the feasibility study was 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 was 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 are 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 further studies, e.g. in Tanzania or 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.

Usage statistics from the MPHB system per 16.01.2023                           

• All patients: 5855
• Diagnoses: 4730
• Immunizations: 377
• Medications: 7215
• Measurements: 14142
• Consultation notes: 2089
• Bookings: 1568
• Messages: 22
• Patients returning to the app: 857

First patient registered 28.06.2022

We need finances to roll out our solution in Dodoma region in Tanzania. Our strategic partners Ministry of Health and PORALG (President Office) have committed to roll out our solution in Dodoma region in Tanzania but we need further finances to do this. 

Also, we need a network of impact-minded leaders, giving us inspiration and access to the right partners that aligns with our vision of Health data today - Healthcare tomorrow. 

To launch our solution on further markets, we need inspiration and guidance on how to overcome market barriers such as legal requirements such as development of license agreement, access to in-kind ressources such as software licenses and potentially cloud cost as well as exposure in the media and at conferences. All of the above will for sure be areas we would like to have a collaboration with the different MIT teams about. 

We hope that this Challenge will help us overcome it so we can continue to work for Health data today - Healthcare tomorrow in fragile contexts such as developing countries and for people on the move, also under destabilizing events. 

Our 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 fragile contexts such as developing countries that are low-income countries and for people on the move, also under destabilizing events; 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, especially under destabilizing events or when patients are displaced from their local areas. Our cloud solution secures that patient data is always accessible for both the patient and the healthcare providers, securing continuum of care, across facilities, regions and even countries.

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 exists 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 to make anonymized reports to get insight into statistics / reporting of diagnoses and treatment on different demographics, e.g., age, gender, location etc., tracking and prevention of disease outbreaks, planning and optimizing treatment and medication as well as a variety of research. All data provided will be anonymized and standardized. 

The purpose is to improve access to quality health services in fragile contexts such as developing countries and for people on the move as well as build resilience in health systems which will be extremely important when destabilizing events occur.

IMPACT GOALS FOR THE NEXT YEAR 

In the next year our impact goals are:

• Secure continuum of care and optimize healthcare for patients and healthcare providers in Dodoma, Tanzania. We will achieve it by implementing and developing our solution through conducting a study in the whole Dodoma region, 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. 
• Secure continuum of care and optimize healthcare 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:

• Secure continuum of care and optimize healthcare for all patients and healthcare providers in Tanzania. We will achieve it by 1) conducting the 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.
• Secure continuum of care and optimize healthcare 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.
• Secure continuum of care and optimize healthcare 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 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 FIVE YEARS 

(NB: Measurable indicators are listed with letters "a, b, c...")

• Secure continuum of care and optimize healthcare for all patients and healthcare providers in Tanzania. 1) Conducting the study in Dodoma, Tanzania to demonstrate the benefit of our solution a. Conduct and finish study by Q2 2024 2) Developing our solution a. Release a monthly update of solution 3) Building relationships and network with relevant governments and NGO's a. Meetings with e.g. Ministry of Health (MoH) and National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) in Q1-Q2 2023 b. 3-5 meetings with relevant governments and NGO's every half year we visit Tanzania c. Asking our contact persons in governments, NGO's and universities for referrals to partners/customers 4) Entering partnership / customer agreements a. Enter final agreement with MoH and NHIF in Tanzania by Q2 2023   b. Enter partnership / customer agreements with another NGO in Tanzania by Q3 2023.  5) Implementing our solution a. Start implementing in accordance to agreement with MoH and NHIF by Q3 2023  b. Start implementing in accordance to partnership / customer agreements with another NGO by Q1 2024  c. Our solution is used by 85% of hospitals/clinics in Tanzania by Q2 2028
• Secure continuum of care and optimize healthcare 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 Q3 2023 with 10 hospitals for 18 months 2) Developing our solution a. Release a monthly update of solution 3) Building relationships and network with relevant governments and NGO's a. Meetings with MoH and Caritas in Q2 2023  b. 3-5 meetings with relevant governments and NGO's every half year we visit Rwanda  c. Asking our contact persons in governments, NGO's and universities for referrals to partners/customers 4) Entering partnership / customer agreements  a. Enter partnership/customer agreements with governments and NGO's, e.g., MoH and Caritas, in Rwanda by Q4 2023.  5) Implementing our solution a. Start implementing  by Q2 2024. b. Our solution is used by 50% of hospitals/clinics in Rwanda by Q2 2028 
• Secure continuum of care and optimize healthcare for 100 mio. patients and healthcare providers in developing countries and for people on the move in Sub-Saharan African. 1) Sharing results from studies  a. Include results from studies in presentation material etc. 2) Developing our solution a. Release a monthly update of solution 3) Posting content on LinkedIn  a. Post content once a week on LinkedIn with news 4) Building relationships and network with relevant governments and NGO's a. Be present at network events, e.g., participate in UN delegation to Rwanda (Q2 2023) b. Participate in at least 2 meetings and/or network events with pot. partners/customers every month 5) Entering partnership/customer agreements a. Enter into at least one partnership/customer agreements every year until Q2 2028. 6) Implementing our solution a. Start implementing in accordance to at least one partnership / customer agreement every year until Q2 2028

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 access to health data for patients and healthcare providers in fragile contexts such as developing countries and for “people on the move”, also under destabilizing events. 

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 and update the patient’s healthcare data which can be used in diagnosing, subscription of medication, treatment, and follow-up as well as communication with the patients. Furthermore, our reporting tool will give researchers, governments etc. access to aggregated and anonymized statistics/reporting of diagnoses and treatment on different demographics, e.g., age, gender, location etc., tracking and prevention of disease outbreaks, planning and optimizing treatment and medication as well as a variety of research. 

This lays the ground for informed decision-making for the healthcare provider and health official, securing the long term outcomes continuum of care between treatments, health facilities and even countries as well as safe, efficient, and optimized treatment for the patients; in all building resilience in health systems and improving access to quality healthcare in fragile contexts such as developing countries and for people on the move, also under destabilizing events when access to health data can be scarce. Through relationships, potential customers and preliminary results from an on-going feasibility study in Dodoma, Tanzania on 6 health facilities for 8 months with local patients and healthcare providers 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-application on personal computers, tablets, and smartphones which most people in developing countries and people on the move own or have access to. 

We provide a secure and patient controlled access to health data through the web-application, and local storage on the personal devices as encrypted data, securing patient empowerment and security of health data. This secures that health data is always accessible, even between transfer between facilities or displacement from home. 

Furthermore, we provide 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, improving continuum of care. 

Also, our solution provides a tool for statistics and reporting of aggregated, anonymized health data (big data) to enable research, informed decision-making and interventions, e.g., under destabilizing events where knowledge about health, spread of diseases, access to and distribution of medical equipment and medication is critical. 

All to be used for better resilience and access to healthcare in fragile contexts such as developing countries and for people on the move, also under destabilizing events, where access to health data is crucial and often scarce.

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 management 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 both one in Denmark and one consisting of local members in Tanzania. Furthermore, for the study in Dodoma, Tanzania besides hiring two local Professors we have hired one local young Project Assistant 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 Assistant from Tanzania is doing a good job to make sure he feels 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, even under destabilizing events, and improve resilience in healthcare systems in their nation, region, group etc.; cost-savings with more efficient healthcare; getting insight into  healthcare 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 Apr 2023: 

- Digitaliseringsboost (grant): 430.000 DKK (58.929,77 USD)

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

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

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

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

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

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

- REDPreneur (grant and programme): 145.649,82 DKK (20.000 USD)

- SMV:Eksport (grant): 413.290 DKK (59.636,84 USD)

- Keystones (investment): 560.000 DKK (83.011,93 USD)

- CodeOptimus (investment): 400.000 DKK (59.294,24 USD) 

- Private investor (investment): 500.000 DKK (74.117,80 USD) 

In all: 6.472.914,95 DKK (959.516,41 USD)