ALYFE

I watched my aunt being snatched away by the cold hands of death, because an abnormal temperature reading wasn’t noticed on time. This led to a more complicated health situation, and ultimately, her untimely death.

According to the World Health Organization, at least 5 million people die annually especially in low and middle income countries due to low quality health care services.

Patients die on a daily because they are not attended to especially in emergency situations. This is attributed to the unimaginably low number of medical personnel available to attend to the patients. Vital signs are the easiest means of detecting an abnormal health state of every patient.

Constant monitoring and timely communication of patient’s vitals can save several lives and act as a sufficient approach towards helping the very few number of medical personnel manage the large number of patients, as they can prioritize in emergency situations, attending to those most in need thanks to constant and timely communication of the patient’s state to the doctors and care givers. 

Within my country, the doctor to patient ratio is 1:10. This even becomes worst in rural arrears like where I come from. The doctor to patient ratio is as low as 1: 15 or 20 in some cases. Monitoring an communication becomes very essential especially for neonates whose oxygen concentration stand as a very pivotal parameter. In my community, most hospitals cannot afford a single incubator, talk less of monitoring machines for the oxygen concentration of the neonates. At least 7 in 10 death cases among neonates (children between 0-26days), results from poor monitoring and communication of their vitals, especially Oxygen concentration. How are neonates expected to speak out when they feel a difference in their health states? Effective monitoring and communication of vitals, especially oxygen concentration is very essential in saving the lives of not just adults, but the children and neonates especially.

ALYFE is a device that seeks to ensure constant motoring and effective communication of patient’s health state/vital signs to care givers and medical practitioners, thereby saving lives and filling the huge gap between number of patients and medical practitioners in Cameroon and beyond.

The device has three compartments. The PART 1 constitutes a black wrist band which extends to the index finger. This band acts as a support for the oxygen concentration, heart rate and temperature sensors. This effectively takes readings of this vitals signs constantly from the patients. The PART 2 is a compartment attached on the hospital bed of the patient. It comprises a display screen which constantly displays the vital sign readings from the PART 1. It also contains a buzzer and light emitting diodes which signals caregivers and those around the ward in case of any emergency state of the patient, gotten through an abnormality in the vital readings.

The PART 3 is a portable tablet which the ward administrator or medical doctor has. It is connected through ESPs and uses a GSM module to communicate the vitals of all the patients constantly to the doctor. In case of emergencies, the tablet rings and indicates the bed in the ward, whose patient need urgent attention. The doctor or medical personnel can easily rush and attend to the patient. 

The target population for this innovation includes the over burdened health personnel and vulnerable patients crowded in underserved hospitals with few medical personnel to attend to them.

Health personnel

With rising population and rising illness in the face of the changing climate and the ongoing socio-political unrest, health personnel are very few and they face difficulties in ensuring that the great number of patients are all properly attended to. The lack of appropriate technologies as well keeps the patients at risk. 

Mercury in glass thermometers are still used till date and shared between several patients there by increasing the spread of contact diseases. Inadequate availability of monitoring and communication technologies makes the quality of healthcare rendered very insufficient and makes work difficult for the health personnel. 

ALYFE will truly reduce the heavy burden on few medical personnel and improve on the quality of care and service provided in our crowded hospitals

With a device as ALYFE, Proper monitoring of patients is constantly assured, with timely intervention in emergency situations thanks to the effective communication put in place by the device. Time is saved as well through this device, as medical practitioners will always have vital signs displayed and will not use the local method of going patient by patient, bed by bed, to get vital signs for the enormously large number of patients.

PATIENTS

With fewer medical personnel available in the our crowded hospitals, many patients have become vulnerable to untimely dead because of inadequate and timely monitoring of the patience. 

The vulnerable patients also face the risk of diseases as a result of sharing several equipment in the hospital, used by practitioners to monitor the vital signs of patients. Mercury in glass thermometers are still used till date and shared between several patients there by increasing the spread of contact diseases.

 This device therefore will bridge this gap, by assisting patients in communicating their health conditions all the time to their care givers and medical practitioners, thereby increasing their chances of regaining health, reduce spread of diseases from sharing of basic medical tools like the mercury thermometer and enhance life expectancy in Cameroon and Africa.

Members of my team share a common story; each of us have experienced the grief of losing a loved one, due to lack of proper follow up and monitoring in our crowded underserved healthcare centers. We all share this same story and passion to provide a solution to the problems of doctor patience ration in our community, reduce the over burden on the medical personnel, improve the quality of service in crowded hospitals and reduce death rate in Cameroon and beyond

Our diverse team comprises a health personnel, programmer, engineering designers, a mechatronics engineers, a fashion designer and a Mechanical Engineer. With much experience from our respective fields of expertise this diverse and unique team works tirelessly to ensure the production of the device, with one goal! Ensuring that our predecessors do not taste what it feels like to lose a loved one on a mere account of inadequate medical monitoring and communication. 

Okuke Mary Marvelous Mudi(21yrs old) is a tech innovator, and Mechanical Engineer with speciality in thermo fluid Engineering. She is the team lead and serves as overall coordinator, leads research, public relations and User interface design for the device. 

Ategha Tsili Mvo(23yes old) is a Mechatronics engineer and passionate about artificial intelligence. He works on the programming aspects of the device alongside Lacy. 

Nkenglefac Lacy(22yrs old) is a mechatronics Engineer, excellent programmer and passionate about automation and machine learning. He leads the main technical aspects of programming in this project. 

Cliff(21yrs old) is an undergraduate Mechatronics Engineering student and machine design expert. He spearheads the Design and assembly of the various parts of this device.

Asongwe Hexsfield Jr(23yrs old) is a 5th year Medical student. He is in charge of the research aspect of the device. And ensures all expectations in the medical perspective are adequately met. 

Betrand Moforza is a fashion designer. He is in charge of the design and production of the wrist ban section of the device. 

We are using a Designed thinking approached in our invention to ensuring that the inputs of all stakeholders (medical personnel and patients) are taken into consideration before the final outputs.

We have had several focus groups discussions with patients and medical personnel regarding our health innovation. 

My team and I began by doing some research in hospitals, to get the depths of the problem on the patient’s side and medical practitioners too. We have had several sessions and surveys carried out, and definitely confirmed that this is a need, and our proposed solution is in a good position to provide a solution to it. 

We have as well had sessions and exchanges with several hospital proprietors, to see how they will be willing to adopt this technology and pay for it. Our calibrations are based on confirmed tests with patients and study of the available sensors. 

We went as far as meeting with the country representative of the World Health Organization, who encouraged the innovation and went further to say the device comes handy in a time like this when the World Health Organization Is seeking innovative means to combat the number of deaths globally hic result due to inadequate patient care. 

The most interesting part of the research was getting to communities, and hearing the stories of people who expressed so much grief at the passing away of their relatives or friends, because of neglect and inadequate patient care. These stories further nurtured our empathy and inspired us to lead this innovation.

We have built prototypes and constantly improve several aspects of the device based on what we find practically during the testing, and recommendations from health experts we work with.

We have gone this far with our work with just a $1000 donation. Winning this prize will greatly help us scale, and be encouraged! Knowing that someone out there values our work. Above all, the Technical support, and resources accompanied with the prize will be exceptionally of great help to us.

Our 21yr old  team lead was born and raised in this community. Coupled to her works in Engineering, she has been greatly engaged with community development initiatives. The exposure to the realities of her people was the primary inspiration to use technology in solving atleast one of their most critical issues through this project ALYFE.

Innovation for us is the ability to tailor this invention to meet the needs of its people. Making it contextualized enough.

With the existence of similar devices, the following justifications account for the innovativeness of our solution;

1. It is the best possible approach to address the low doctor-patient ratio, supporting the fewer medical practitioners easily manage large number of patients.

2. Its ability to constantly communicate these vitals with the medical practitioners and care givers. 

3. It is ideal for the setting of my community and its people.

4. Unlike the existing solutions, this device is much more cost effective and easy to maintain.

This device is new and innovative. It is a new system for the health sector in my community and even nation. It will pose a great competition for existing solutions with similar functionalities. 

Based on our prospects, research and partnerships, there is a whole new market awaiting this device and its impactful  functionalities. 

What are your impact goals for the next year, and how will you achieve them?

Our ultimate impact goal is to curb deaths that occur due to low patient care in my community, by about 50%. 

We will push for the use of this device by several hospitals and healthcare facilities, especially in crises hit areas and situations which require emergency response. 

The goal is to have at least 200 installations of this device especially in very rural and underserved hospitals.

We intend getting very intentional about fundraising, because priority for us is saving the lives especially of innocent neonates and women, the elderly and sick people who in most cases cannot even afford healthcare. 

We intend getting this device setup in at least 20 hospitals by 2024 and 300 hospitals by 2028. We hope to work especially in underserved communities with little or no healthcare systems and or personnel. Our goal is at least 5000 patients by 2028.

Following the Launch of this device, we are looking forward to reducing the global maternal mortality ratio in our community and others to less than 10 per 150 live births.

To add, we hope  to curb deaths that occur due to low patient care by about 50%.

We will push for the use of this device by several hospitals and healthcare facilities, especially in crises hit areas and situations which require emergency response. 

We intend getting very intentional about fundraising, because priority for us is saving the lives especially of innocent neonates and women, the elderly and sick people who in most cases cannot even afford healthcare. 

An essential part of our works has to deal with Sensor technology. Getting the accurate vitals, in the best possible way and time. The innovation is mainly centered around this. 

Based on the fact that most sensors are manufactured outside Africa, several disparities hinder the accuracy of readings(some of which include the difference in skin texture and physiology, climate disparities, level of technological advancement and more.)

We intend growing and manufacturing our own sensors in future for the device, which will just be ideal for the people of my community and majority of other Africans. 

6 part time. Given that most are students or early graduates.

2 years.

We accept the strengths and uniqueness of each team member. This alone greatly enhances our diversity. Given that  the team has a diverse group of young professionals in various fields. Everyone feels relevant and together we grow towards perfection. 

This device has two major beneficiaries; Patients and medical practitioners. To the patients, it assures them of an effective monitoring and immediate intervention in case of an emergency. 

To the medical practitioners, it provides them with a platform for conducive and effective management of patients, even in emergency situations with large number of patients to be attended to. 

Our main business model is ensuring that these beneficiaries are able to aces the device and gain from its full functionality. Working with the heads of healthcare systems, organizations that deal with healthcare especially in Sub Saharan Africa, and members of administration at various levels. 

Our financial sustainability will vary.

FIRSTLY

At the beginning stages of the work, we intend raising funds from individual donations and grants. The level of work we have been able to carry out is from a $1000 grant we received from a donor based in the United Kingdom. Grants and donations will sustain us, until our finalized standard product is out in the market.

SECONDLY

With our device beign finalized, our next great source of income will result from sales of the device. Renown Private hospitals and clinics have regarded this device as an asset which will boost the standard of their services. With this, a steady revenue source is assured in the next big phase of the startup, which will entail the sale of the already finalized product. 

So far, our work has progressed just from a $1000 grant given to us by someone based in the UK. 

With more funds, we would definitely do more.