Healthcare-focused start-up Afya Rekod says access to services, limited connectivity and remote regions remain challenges.

Innovation designed to drive connectivity and engagement between patients, doctors and other health care providers.

Kenyan health tech start-up Afya Rekod is sprinting to launch its AI and Blockchain-built consumer driven health data platform as Coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to impact the globe.

The technology will be rolled out to support international efforts to curb the disease and provide a portal for people to store their health data in real time, with a special focus on COVID-19, as well as access health information and connect with service providers.

The system was expected to launch at the end of July 2020, but the situation is very different now.

Founder and CEO of Afya Rekod John Kamara said “Afya Rekod is a medical data storage platform that allows patients to store their health records, the medication they take as well as keep journals of their statuses and that of their kids and families. The platform is AI driven and uses various AI modules to help detect abnormalities, detect early out breaks and monitor mobility and evolution of diseases via timely data analytics.”

Kamara added, “Africa and most of the third world countries have limited doctors and access to health care services. Lack of patient data in real time makes the problem even more damaging to both patients and health service providers across the continent. Over 65% of Africans live in rural communities that are not connected and are off grid in terms of access to health care services. This is the problem we are trying to solve.”

The start-up suggests that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has shown the world once again that centralised health management systems that rely solely on people walking into a health facility are not sufficient.

“The world also needs decentralised systems that enable people to update their own records, anytime, anywhere, in multi formats,” it adds.

Inefficiency

One of the critical issues affecting the world during emergencies like this includes inefficiency that leads to untimely deaths due to lack of or limited data, scanty access to health care services, unverified information and lack of, and delayed responses among other things, Afya Rekod continues.

Kamara explains, “We are fast tracking to launch the platform four months ahead of its time to enable the world to capture real time data that will hit map areas where the Corona infections are growing and monitor the growth in real time by collecting user generated information from millions of users across multiple geographic locations to allow for sufficient data analysis in support of the global efforts to curb the disease.”

“Afya Rekod comes at a crucial time when the world is experiencing one of the biggest pandemics of its generations and we need to monitor the movement and evolution of the virus very closely to determine the changing nature of symptoms among other things.”

Afya Rekod is currently in discussions with various entities across governments and developing partners to explore how their efforts can be accelerated urgently for COVID-19.