The heart of any network is how well it serves its intended purpose. In the case of an e-health system for Kenya the point is to increase the well being of the Kenya population by providing the services they need. In some cases, this could be hand washing campaigns to reduce typhoid, but at this time the data has not been collected due to the lack of ICT in the field at the village level. Therefore many of our best development efforts are hit and miss rather than data based.

BUT in order for anything to work it MUST meet the needs of the people themselves and be easily understood which will require local content generation on a more real level than the Flintstone in Kikuyu. Interfaces should be easy to use and for the wanachini to understand.

Also we need to make sure that we are investing in the skills of the hospital personnel. I cannot emphasize this enough because ultimately the end delivery and the make or break point in the system is right there. No matter how good the tech is, nothing will change unless the people do. The best tech does nothing in the hands of someone who doesn't use it. Just look at how many schools were given computers which are now collecting dust in storerooms because of the lack of capacity building.

This needs to be considered on an ecosystem level from the top of the government to the most remote corners of the country on a individual level. I believe many of us are holding a piece, but we have not put them together to form the puzzle yet.


On Thu, Jun 9, 2011 at 2:47 PM, aki <aki275@gmail.com> wrote:
@Erick, imagine that you as the system programmer are the parent of a new born and that you are not aware of any diseases/infections at child birth or early stages that can cost the life of your child. How would you then want the system to be that could possibly save the life of your child? The system designed can have the ability to speed up a response or diagnosis. Since those involved in the developer project have been exposed to the medical environment, they all should be able to take up the info from the meds and further enchance the system. The connection between the reality and what can be achieved, is the heart of innovation.

 
On Thu, Jun 9, 2011 at 2:08 PM, Erick Njenga <eriknjenga@gmail.com> wrote:
@Aki, could you expound more on what exactly you mean by innovation? I'm not privy to how far the systems will go but will let you know of any progress. 
cheers.


 

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