Telkom will power health tech company, Afya Rekod’s health management platform, that will facilitate COVID-19 monitoring and analysis to support global efforts to curb the disease.
This platform converts structured and unstructured data to global health data record keeping, using Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) and other international standards.
“We are happy to play a role in ensuring that the people of Kenya are able to share real time information of any symptoms they may experience related to COVID-19, keep logs of their progress, be able to get the right information, as well as have access to health workers who can support them with initial consultation,” Telkom CEO, Mugo Kibati said.
The health management platform was developed in March this year, in light of the coronavirus pandemic and it provides a virtual repository for individuals to store their health data in real time.
“One of the most critical issues during this period will be how quickly health workers are upskilled, and kept well informed on how they can best support patients and also protect themselves in the process,” Kibati said.
The Afya Rekod platform is a centralized, multilingual, intelligent health data platform, built with Artificial Intelligence (AI) modules and blockchain technology, to ensure that it is adaptive, dynamic and secured for public usage.
Kenyans will be able to access the platform through *380# code, or by downloading the Afya Rekod App via google play store.
“Lack of patient data in real time makes it hard to curb disease and more so a virus such as COVID-19, whose cure and vaccine are still being sought. The application is being launched at a crucial time when the world is experiencing one of the biggest pandemics in generations and we need to monitor the movement and evolution of the virus closely to determine, among other things, the changing nature of symptoms.”
The platform will enable users to capture real-time data that will heat-map areas where COVID-19 infections are growing, and monitor the growth in real-time, by collecting user-generated information from users across multiple geographic locations to allow for sufficient data analysis.
Its decentralized nature, enables people to update their own records, anytime, anywhere, and in multiple formats, will support the relevant health authorities with efficient general management of the spread of the disease, resource mobilization, and patient support, where required.
The initiative with Afya Rekod adds to the list of targeted interventions that Telkom has announced in recent days including launching of the Soma na Telkom bundles, tailored to power the e-learning programmes of educational institutions.
The telco also donated a 50 Mbps link to the Kenyatta National Hospital’s Infectious Diseases Unit at Mbagathi to enabled patients in quarantine at the Mbagathi facility, to keep in touch with their loved ones and the outside world.
