Tanzanian businesswoman Lilian Makoi has introduced an affordable mobile healthcare solution christened Jamii Africa in Tanzania. Although she has co-founded a number of startups, Jamii Africa happens to be her biggest and most positive business venture.

According to Lilian Makoi, she started Jamii Africa after losing someone in her family from a treatable medical emergency. The main reason for the loss, she said was their inability to pay for medical services. And this according to her was a wake-up call.

She was therefore ignited to do a research concerning the incident, after which she found out that, in-access and in-affordability to medical services was a problem facing 70 percent of the Tanzania population.

Per the research, she decided to speak with various insurers to understand why they were not addressing such an issue. But unfortunately majority attributed their inability to “high insurance administration costs.”

“Through the experience I had gained in my career it was easy to craft out how the mobile phone can be used to do most, if not all, of the administrative activities of the insurer, from on-boarding, premium collection, benefit ledger management, claims processing and payout,” she said.
She then built the platform and reached out to Vodacom as a product partner. With Jamii, users easily call Vodacom’s M-Pesa USSD menu and select a policy fit for their family size and what they can afford.

The policy ranges from $1 a month to $70 a year which also varys from 3 months/6 months to 12 options for individuals or families. After selecting the desired policy, individuals pay the premium via M-Pesa and then Jamii’s platform manages their benefit ledger, claim processing and payout to hospitals.

The platform cuts out the need for paperwork and manpower that makes insurance expensive. However, for each selected policy option, the user can spend 500 times the premium paid to access medical services.

The policyholder is then allowed to get medical services within the benefit cap, upon which they pay the hospital’s approved claims via M-Pesa. This platform provides affordable policies with flexible payment options that match the nature of the low-income families.

Speaking about the tech sector in Tanzania, she indicated that, it is developing with new players coming in and the youth actively playing a major role in the tech space as founders and CEOs.
According to her, there are tons of opportunities in terms of solving basic to business problems in the country using technology. She also commended the youth for being very active and risk-averse in technology.

She indicated that more could be done, in developing the ecosystem by providing the requisite support to make the journey shorter and easier for the founders and CEOs.
Although Lilian faced some challenges with team building and capital, now, she hopes to do more marketing campaigns directed towards customers and SME ; in a country where out of 50 million people, only five percent have health insurance

Balsam International, a heart surgery and cardiology team is preparing to go to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in the next few days to treat 176 heart patients after successful trips to treat 225 heart patients in Yemen.

Dr. Imad Bukhari, cardiac surgery consultant and CEO of Balsam, said that during the six-day trip the team aims to conduct 16-18 open heart surgeries, about 60 catheterizations, offering treatment to 100 cases in outpatient clinics in collaboration with the medical team at the Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute.

The trip comes after coordination with the Ambassador of Tanzania in Saudi Arabia Hamid Eid Maghazi, the Tanzanian Ministry of Health and Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute. Heart surgeon Dr. Rakan Nazer expressed his delight in participating with his colleagues in Balsam in this humanitarian charity work. Dr. Rahim Gul, a Pakistani consultant in cardiac surgery, is taking part in this trip too.

Dr. Abdulaziz Khouja, anesthesiologist, and his colleagues remember joyfully the achievements of “Balsam1” and “Balsam2” trips to Yemen in April and May 2018. In about 12 days, 25 open heart surgeries and more than 200 catheterizations were carried out, in addition to more than 750 clinical and ultrasound checkups.

The nucleuses of this medical team are Saudi citizens who are proud of the international medical status that Saudi doctors have reached in fields such as heart surgery.

Healthcare is a word that defines the fitness of all, so are the safety measures taken to prevent disease spread and secure our well being. Manufactures providing us with the gadgets that ensure security have been held in high esteem, one big example is Kenya’s very own La Miguela Holdings. Widely known for their Needle Smelter, the company will showcase this marvel at the 21st Medexpo Africa 2018, to be held from the 04-06 September at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre, Nairobi.

Celebrating its 21st edition Medexpo, has been the market for over two decades, promoting the healthcare industry to the African market. The event features products, machinery, equipments, tools and technology used in the medical sectors, this would include, of tablets, syrups, syringes, scanners, surgery tools, lasers, OT equipments, scrubs, gloves, chemicals, solutions, cosmetic tools, sterilizers, centrifuges, microscopes etc. Exhibitors from over 25 countries participate, counting the continents apart from Africa. Overall entire floor is a fold of vast imaginations, a culmination of the brightest minds and ideas dedicated to healthcare sector.

La Minguela, a known name in the region is famous for its safety products and solution. They step in when you have no way out, especially in life threatening situations. They will bring their needle smelters to the expo; a devise that completes dissolves syringes under extreme heat with no risk of any transfer of disease, infection or any other ailing. The product will be a great addition to the list of displays at the expo. Moreover the fair will allow they the need exposure to other markets, international waters and promising traders.

The show is expected to attract over 5000 visitors, both local and international such as buyers, sellers, distributors, scientist, medical professionals, healthcare centre’s, facilities and institutions, developers, researchers, delegates, associations, suppliers to name a few. Moreover the participants will be quiet intriguing with all their innovation presented to a crowd, waiting for the next development in the healthcare future.

Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, has said that Rwanda has witnessed its all time low in maternal and child mortality rates. Community-based health insurance, good external partnerships and community health workers are responsible for decline in the numbers.

Rwanda has been increasing its network exponentially in terms of community health workers and volunteers in villages. This is evidently helping with the rural development as medical facilities are not reaching rural part of Rwanda more efficiently.

Kagame claims, close to 90% of Rwandans are currently enrolled in health insurance. Rwandan government subsidizes only one-third of the cost with contributions from beneficiaries taking care of the remaining two-thirds.

On the role technology played in the process, he said, “Integrating digital applications and new technologies into our health system has also made a difference, and we are now using drone aircraft to quickly deliver blood and medical supplies to rural hospitals.”

President emphasized on universal health coverage, says, it is possible for countries and all income levels. It is rather an opportunity and WHO (world health organization) is supporting this as well.

He added that, while advocating more funding to be channeled towards achieving UHC by 2030, he urged increased training and employment in the health workforce.