Limited energy resources, brain drain, inaccessibility of medical facilities, limited government funding, and high costs are placing tremendous strain on healthcare in sub-Saharan Africa, home to 25 percent of the world’s disease burden but only 3 percent of the world’s doctors.
In the last two years, the medical device industry has become more focused on providing people in rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa with access to cost-effective, easy-to-manufacture solutions, says Ilk-nür Hendricks, best practices research analyst at Frost & Sullivan, a California firm that provides market research and analysis, growth strategy consulting, and corporate training services. The medical device industry has transitioned into a market that is successfully coming up with cutting-edge low-cost devices, he notes.
“The combination of healthcare challenges and advancements in technology have influenced the transition in the medical device industry and led to the development of new products that solve unique African challenges. As such, African companies have developed ground-breaking ideas, shaped in response to the region’s challenging social economic conditions, to address the medical needs of the continent,” Hendricks says. “Organizations like Himore Medical, Aviro Health, and Deftronics are at the forefront of this boom in innovation and demonstrate the potential for newly technological advancements that can easily be adapted to other regions across the world.”
Below are eight African companies that provide innovative solutions to the continent’s healthcare challenge.
Altis Biologics (Pty) Ltd. (South Africa). Altis Biologics (Pty) Ltd., a biotechnology company based in Pretoria, South Africa, that specializes in the research and development of osteogenic biomaterials for use in human bone-regeneration therapies. CEO Nicolaas Duneas, who holds a Ph.D. in orthopedic surgery, developed the Altis Osteogenic Bone Matrix (Altis OBM™), the world’s first injectable bone-graft product containing naturally extracted bone growth proteins derived from pig bones. In a radical departure form the way orthopedic surgeons treat bones injuries, the product stimulates the patient’s own tissue regeneration system in a way that leads to the natural healing of a fracture or to the restoration of bone. Bone morphogenetic protein complexes such as Altis OBM have been used internationally for many years, but never in injectable form. Prior to Altis OBM, patients with serious bone trauma or degradation would have to endure invasive bone-grafting surgery, using bone tissue harvested either from their own hips or from deceased donors, in hopes of a successful outcome. The injection of OBM promotes rapid, safe and effective healing, ultimately leading to the complete and natural restoration of the bone, including the bone marrow.
Aviro Health (South Africa). is a design and technology company that develops digital applications for healthcare practitioners to improve the quality of medical treatment. Since most healthcare practitioners in clinics and hospitals in South Africa have smartphones, Aviro Health’s applications can be accessed easily. Its product offerings include applications that help the administration of HIV/AIDS treatment, and e-learning and training platforms for medical practitioners in the form of e-books and videos. These applications are available to healthcare professionals in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Malawi. Aviro Health provides nurses with a platform to learn and extend their knowledge, while keeping them up to date with the most recent guidelines for the administration of antiretrovirals. This in turn assists them in administering the correct combination of medicines to HIV/AIDS patients. The application also provides HIV-positive patients access to a referral system and a HIV hotline. Aviro Health provides HIV/AIDS patients with real-time feedback and guidance to healthcare practitioners for reliable care. It provides information that is essential for HIV patient management that is often missed in routine examinations. The application enables nurses to treat each patient in less than 10 minute and can be used by any nurse in a primary care setting. This enables the nurse to determine a patient’s eligibility for ARV treatment, which drugs to use, and when to start treatment.
Deaftronics. (Botswana). Deaftronics manufactured the first solar-powered hearing aid unit, Solar Ear, a game changer in a country where there are only 12 audiologists and five audiology centers for a population of over 2 million. Rural communities in Botswana are unable to gain access to audiologists to test their level of hearing impairment, or obtain the necessary audiogram needed for purchasing a suitable hearing aid. Deaftronics’s solar rechargeable hearing aid is 10 times cheaper than conventional hearing aids, which require expensive batteries that need to be replaced weekly and are often unavailable in the market. The company’s solar rechargeable hearing aid is more accessible to rural or poverty-stricken hearing impaired patients in Botswana. Each Solar Ear unit includes a digital hearing aid, a solar battery charger, and four rechargeable batteries. The batteries can also be used in 80 percent of hearing aids currently present in the market. This invention reduces the amount of visits patients are typically required to make to care centres in Africa, Brazil, China, India, and Singapore.
EAT-SET Industries Ltd. (Nigeria). Brigadier General Otu Oviemo Ovadje (Rtd.), a medical doctor in the Nigerian Army, established EAT-SET Industries Ltd. in 2001 to facilitate commercialization of his Emergency Auto-Transfusion Set, or EAT-SET, an affordable device to stem potentially fatal internal hemorrhaging. In an environment where there is no access to blood transfusion services, or where patients cannot afford blood from laboratories or blood banks, EAT-SET reuses the patient’s own blood through a technique known as auto transfusion. The device facilitates the recovery and filtration of lost blood and subsequent re-transfusion back into a patient. It can be used even in the absence of electricity. It is primarily used in cases of ruptured ectopic pregnancy and accidents resulting in serious blood loss. By using the patient’s own blood, it prevents the transmission of infection and disease, as well as immunological complications arising from incompatible transfusions. The EAT-SET device is commercially produced in a joint arrangement with First Medical and Sterile Products, located in Nigeria’s Calabar Free Trade Zone.
Himore Medical (Cameroon). Himore Medical is the first company in Africa to manufacture a medical tablet capable of changing and saving the lives of cardiovascular disease patients in rural areas. Himore Medical designed CardioPad, a pioneering wireless solution that enables the efficient monitoring of cardiovascular diseases. While the majority of cardiovascular specialists practice in the capital city of Cameroon, Yaoundé, 80 percent of the country’s population lives in rural areas. The CardioPad, therefore, provides improved access to cardiovascular healthcare for patients living in remote areas. It is a touchscreen tablet smaller than most conventional tablets, making it easier to operate. The device includes a set of four wireless electrodes and a sensor that is attached to the patient’s chest; this generates a signal, which is then transmitted via Bluetooth to the tablet. A digitized electrocardiogram of the patient’s heart function is then taken and transmitted through a mobile network to a second CardioPad device – located in a city hospital – where a registered cardiologist can make a diagnosis.
OculusID (South Africa). OculusID specializes in the development of biometric solutions with impairment detection through the application of non-invasive, hygienic and cost-effective innovations by promoting a safe environment. South African biotechnologist and entrepreneur Ashley Uys developed the OculusID Impairment Screening device that can detect substance abuse, eye defects and fatigue through the pupil’s response to light emissions. The pupil response can then be measured against pre-determined benchmarks applied to measure substance abuse, physiological defects and fatigue. Other OculusID products include OculusLAW, used by South African traffic officials in its crackdown on over-tired drivers and those under the influence of drugs or alcohol; OculusMOBI, a smartphone application that parents can use to determine whether their child is high on drugs; OculusMINI, used by small and medium-size enterprises; OculusPRO, which integrates facial recognition and visual impairment detection and is designed for workplaces with access control systems; and a quick malaria test.
SudaMed Co. Ltd. (Sudan). SudaMed Co. Ltd. publishes Sudan’s first and only online directory of providers and suppliers to the medical care industry—from professionals, hospitals, clinics, dental practices, and medical labs, centers and schools, to pharmacies, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and even medical regulatory bodies—along with their location and hours of service. Created by medical doctor Mazin Mohammed Khalil, the company’s founder and CEO, the Sudan Medical Directory effectively puts Sudan’s entire healthcare sector on the web, making it accessible via computer or mobile phone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Other SudaMed products include the MediTab, an e-book reader for medical students to access textbooks and other research material online, and SudaMed Doctor Interface, a web-based patient record system that is cheaper than existing clinic management systems, as well as a range of medical services that includes training in CPR and basic First Aid skills and preventive medical checkups.
Cipher256 Co. Ltd. (Uganda). Cipher256 Co. Ltd. founders Joshua Okello and Tushaba Aaron, founders of developed WinSenga mobile technology as a low-cost way to monitor the heart rate of unborn babies. Deployed on a smartphone, WinSenga captures the heart beat sounds of the fetus, provides a diagnosis, and sends it to the expectant mother in a text message. The information can also be uploaded to cloud storage. WinSenga comes in the form of a kit comprising a Senga horn, which is am enhanced Pinard horn (the tool midwives have used for more than 100 years to listen to the fetal heart rate), connected to a phone running the WinSenga App. It is used as an alternative to standard antenatal diagnosis equipment, such as the ultrasound scan, which most community health centers cannot afford. With WinSenga, the Pinard horn, or fetoscope, is enhanced with a microphone, which the midwife plugs into a smartphone running the WinSenga application. The midwife places the horn on the mother’s abdomen and taps the phone to begin recording the fetal heart sounds. A diagnosis is made from the sounds, which the midwife and mother receive, along with suggested actions that can be taken. Prior to WinSenga, the midwife had to locate the fetal heart by pressing on the mother’s abdomen, place the Pinard horn on the location, and lean in to listen to the heartbeat with her ear to the other end of the horn.
