Botswana-UPenn Partnership Telemedicine and Health Informatics Program

Sustainable locally driven growth of health informatics [&] mHealth in Botswana

Project start date : 01/01/2014

Last updated : 16/03/2022

Beneficiary country : Botswana

Healthcare themes targeted

  • HIV/AIDS
  • Chronic diseases
  • Cancer
  • Oral health
  • Dermatology
  • Ophthalmology
  • Emergency services

Fields of application

  • Health professional training
  • Telemedicine (remote diagnosis and consultations)
  • Information, education and communication for behaviour change (IEC)

Stage of development

  • Routine project/operational

Financing method

  • Public (grant/subsidies, call for proposals/call for tender, etc.)
  • Private (private investors, crowdfunding, philanthropy, etc.)
  • NGO
  • Government agency (USAID, etc.)
  • Intergovernmental or international agency

Area where the project is utilised

  • National (in one country only)

Economic model(s)

  • Income generated by beneficiaries

What problem does the initiative address ?

Lack of health informatics training locally Lack of specialists in the country Need for triage of difficult cases to referral hospitals Need to optimize technology resources in health care

Detailed description of the initiative

Carrie Kovarik, MD, Associate Professor of Dermatology, University of Pennsylvania launched the BUP teledermatology program in 2007, which has expanded into a broad telemedicine program that seeks to circumnavigate the challenging IT infrastructure in the region and a severe shortage of healthcare workers, particularly specialists. This program is led in-country by director Ryan Littman-Quinn and has focused on capacity building and sustainable growth of telemedicine and health IT through: Awareness and Policy Advocacy, Pre-Service [&] In-Service Training, and mHealth.

What is the proposed solution added value ?

Patients can get to the needed specialist faster, with less time off work, less morbidity while waiting for an appointment. Patients that may never have gotten care will be funneled appropriately to the correct care for little cost leading to more efficient care.

20 000

Number of beneficiaries since launch

5 Full-Time equivalents

8 Employees

5 Volunteers

5 Service providers

Botswana-UPenn Partnership Telemedicine and Health Informatics Program

20 000

Number of beneficiaries since launch

Target audience

  • Healthcare professionals and structures (hospitals, healthcare centres/clinics, health networks)

Project objectives

  • Decreased mortality
  • Decreased morbidity
  • Reduced suffering
  • Improved treatment

Materials used

  • Cellular (mobile) phone
  • Smartphone
  • Tablet
  • Computer

Technologies used

  • Mobile telecommunications (without data connection)
  • Internet
  • Geolocation
  • Mobile app (Android, iOS, Windows Phone, HTML5, etc.)

Offline use

Yes

Open source

Yes

Open data

Yes

Independent evaluation

Yes, auto-evaluated or evaluated by a related organization

About the sponsor

Botswana-UPenn Partnership

Sector : Institutions (Communities, public authorities, NGOs, foundations, etc.)

Country of origin : United States of America (the)

Contact : Sponsor website Project website

Back to projects

Partners

  • Ministry of Health

  • University of Botswana

    Academic entities (Universities, research laboratories, etc)

  • PEEK Vision

    Institutions (Communities, public authorities, NGOs, foundations, etc.)