Matibabu
Matibabu
Location: Uganda
Developer: Matibabu limited
Needed: $ 550,000 to scale yotta to the next phase across more health facilities
Website: https://www.matibabu.io/
We fight to close the gap between the communities and their rightful access to healthcare.
The Challenge
In general, the lack of low cost diagnostics for malaria results in late diagnosis of the disease in many low income communities (contributing to high morbidity and mortality from severe forms of malaria), and over-treatment of malaria where syndromic management is used due to lack of point-of-care diagnostics (contributing to wastage of money on treatment of non-malarial illness especially since the new recommended Artemisinin-based therapies are expensive). Additionally, Inconsistent data relay to the Ministry of Health despite the fact that there are a number of data management platforms being used by health practitioners. The data received is inconsistent in terms of both quality and quantity and is often outdated or not in real-time. The current data collection and surveillance methods are through the national Health Management Information System (HMIS). Data is first collected at the health centre level where hard copies(paper/books) are used and electronic medical record systems for a few health centres that have the capacity. However there is very low usage of this system as paper-based records are lost in delivery, poor quality of data(inaccurate statistical data), untimely delivery of HMIS reports, exclusion of data from the private health providers and at the community level, inadequate segregation of HMIS data and limited political support. Lack of functional supply chains and adequate reporting around availability of supplies, means that often health facilities are without vital drugs and equipment for long periods of time and as a result drug and diagnostic performance can not be monitored. Efficient health information and data systems are vital for improved decision making and timely intervention. We are shifting into an era where data driven approaches have yielded appropriate resource utilization for implementing health programs.
The Solution
Using an ecosystemic approach we offer an array of products;
Matiscope: The matiscope is a portable parasite-based hardware device that uses principles of light scattering and magnetism to detect Plasmodium in blood samples. The kit offers both invasive and non-invasive diagnosis with desktop point of care.
Yotta: captures data, such as location data and health survey information, anonymized data points in a securely managed central data store, and includes both automated and expert data analysis, and customized outputs and feedback that lead to timely and targeted responses. The data visualisation also enables us to run prediction algorithms on the data to deduce geographically customized disease trends.
Yotta cards: Patient tracking to support the health facilities manage & track medication issued, schedule routine visits & also patients saving on the card for health care access topped up with loans
Yotta surveillance apps: Powered with image recognition algorithms, the application is used at the health facility to collect the disease data in almost real time, with both offline and online capabilities
The Impact
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WORK TO DATE:
5 Generation prototypes built and tested
500+ tests performed
100+ health facilities using the tools
10+ active partnerships
Over 42,000 malaria cases mapped in four districts in Uganda
1,000+ 3D printed PPE issued to health practitioners during COVID19
Next Stage: One Million Litres of Water
At the forefront of cutting-edge diagnostics for malaria, we are working around obtaining the best results from our clinical trials as we also work on obtaining approvals for the matiscope. This will drive us into commercialization and scale into the regions with a high malaria burden in the sub-Saharan region. We are also actively scaling up yotta to more health facilities to the East African Region.