Page 80 - STJ VOL 3 FINAL_Neat

Lifestyle
Lifestyle
A Mom To Be.

The Zambian Startup:

Exploring Remote Maternal

Services amidst the Pandemic

Tafadzwa Kalisto Munzwa stands the app is the ideal solution for ventilator needs of Sub Saharan
steadfast on local health innovation pregnant mothers amidst the countries.”
in the plight of the Covid Pandemic. pandemic because it fosters safety
A young Zambian entrepreneur, through social distancing owing to Tafadzwa and his team are set
co-founder of Dawa Health, its remote users. on making the source code open
Tafadzwa and his team are pioneers to allow for any adept team
of various youth conceptualized “The app is empowering both the in electronics and respiratory
health innovations that have proven medical specialist and mother to physiology to mount and utilize it.
serviceable amidst, and beyond the make informed decisions in improving The current cumulative cost of the
pandemic. pregnancy outcomes,” he says. ventilator assembly sits around
With the mass of pandemic- US$300.
instigated innovations in focus being It is available for free, with the self- In support of this ventilator system,
those directly mitigating the effects monitoring kit costing ZMW 100/ Dawa Health has designed a contact
of Covid, a need is raised to spotlight US$6 per month. tracing tool. This tool will help front-
solutions that alleviate indirect line health workers trace Covid-19
challenges. How can expecting The application has a database contact spreading early. Tafadzwa
mothers better access antenatal designed to provide timely advice concluded by adding that the
services in light of the medically to expecting women in contrast focus testing method will mitigate
chaotic ambience? to their weeks of pregnancy. The the threat posed by inadequate
registration process requires that resources in the region.
CAN DIGITAL AND REMOTE mothers provide the date of their
MATERNAL SERVICES PROVE last menstrual period. The algorithm “We are hoping to get the support we
USEFUL? is set to use this data to calculate the need to scale this service across the
Dawa Health vies for their Pre- age of the pregnancy and generate region.”
Covid innovation, DawaMom, information on the mother’s body
which appears to be a surefire changes per week, giving health tips When asked about his view of
solution. DawaMom is composed of and revealing fetus development the current state of innovation
a self-monitoring kit assisted by a stages. The delivery of this service within the health sector on the
designated android application that is achieved through the Dawa continent, Tafadzwa expressed
helps pregnant and nursing mothers Health’s strategic partnerships which his dissatisfaction saying, “There
to access quality maternal services currently involve UNFPA Zambia and are many sub-domains that bold
remotely. This application was Amref Health Africa. innovators can tap into to create
founded in light of the gruesome Aside from the DawaMom app, useful tools and products”. The
maternal death rate in Zambia, Dawa Health has recently pioneered healthcare sector in Zambia, in
according to the Zambia National a DawaCovid Surveillance System, particular, has remained relatively
Public Health Institute. The year a project that held the winning brick and mortar since the
2018 alone saw 183 maternal deaths proposal in a pandemic innovation introduction of western medicine in
per 100,000 live births. challenge, #Design4Zim. It is set the country.
Though the World Health to be implemented in Zimbabwe Tafadzwa believes there are plenty
Organization is still carrying out through a partnership with several of disruptive tools that can be
investigations concerning the tech hubs, namely: TechVillage, created in subdomains that include
severity and possible effects Stimulus Hub, Impact Hub Harare, mental health, chronic diseases,
Covid would have on a pregnant and ACT Africa. and the often neglected tropical
woman, past reports reveal that Tafadzwa went on to demystify diseases. The actualization of
expecting women have often the DawaCovid System saying these creative measures requires
been badly affected by respiratory that it possesses an Arduino- a collaborative effort from various
infections. This goes to show the based ventilator system designed stakeholders.
necessity of innovations such as by the DawaHealth team. This
DawaMom, and their potential system leverages the open-source “Regulators such as ZAMRA are to
benefit to the local and global Arduino and BVM (Bag Valve Mask) change some of their inhibitory
communities. The application is technology. policies and laws to allow fruition
currently undergoing upgrades to of new ideas. The Ministry and
foster inclusivity and allow for a “We are hoping to have a working government could also do more
wider beneficiary accommodation prototype in the next 3-4 weeks. by incentivizing innovations that
through the installation of multiple This system is low cost and can be leapfrog capital constraints for most
local languages. Tafadzwa believes exponentially scaled to meet the innovators.”

80
80