East Africa
The AKDN Digital Health Programme in East Africa
AKDN Digital Health Programme in East Africa
Digital health interventions like telemedicine and eLearning initiatives provide populations with several benefits, including: improved access to health care services for those residing in hard to reach regions; improved quality of the healthcare services; enhanced knowledge and access of health workers to advanced health information; time and cost savings; and greater access to the social, economic and environmental determinants of health. All the benefits contribute to the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Universal Health Coverage (UHC).1
Kenya
At a Glance
Tanzania
At a Glance
The AKDN Digital Health Programme was expanded to East Africa in July 2018, when the Aga Khan Hospital (AKH), Mombasa was connected to two outreach spoke centres in Kenya, the Kilifi Health Centre and the Ukunda Health Centre, for teleconsultation services in family medicine and dermatology. Currently, the AKDN Digital Health Programme in East Africa provides telemedicine services, eLearning services, telesurgery services for a network of 12 health facilities across Kenya and Tanzania. eLearning services under the AKDN Digital Health Programme connect several health facilities in Kenya and Tanzania as spoke sites with the Aga Khan Health Board (AKHB) in USA; AKH, Mombasa; and the Mtwapa Outreach Centre. TKN Volunteers from AKHB, USA are connected to health care providers in Kenya and Tanzania. The services enable capacity building of clinical nurses and nurse administrators to improve clinical skills in neonatal and paediatric intensive care; oncology care; and nursing leadership, among other areas.
Telesurgery Services
Telesurgery services were set-up in June 2019 at the Aga Khan Hospital, Dar es Salaam and trainings were conducted. The first recording of a telesurgery eLearning session has been delayed due to other urgencies related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
1Olu, O., Muneene, D., Bataringaya, J., Nahimana, M., Ba, H., Turgeon, Y., Karamagi, H. and Dovlo, D. (2019). How Can Digital Health Technologies Contribute to Sustainable Attainment of Universal Health Coverage in Africa? A Perspective. Frontiers in Public Health, 7.
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