Across Africa, there is a shortage of well-trained health professionals, which limits opportunities to improve quality, reduce costs or put patients first. Quality healthcare is hard to find as a result, leaving patients with little confidence in the public health system. Even today, many people go to a pharmacy rather than a clinic to seek medical advice when they have problems.

Penda Health wants to bridge the gap by offering quality healthcare at an affordable price to as many people as possible. Technology is both the enabler and the customer attractor of Penda Health. A fully digitized, paperless electronic medical record system serving as the basis for all patient interaction, data storage and quality assurance. The aim is to standardize care, with less variability in advice and results between doctors. This should generate confidence in the quality of the care and enable scaling of their operations.

They enable community health workers to become small entrepreneurs, sell essential medicines and hygiene products, and disseminate information while performing basic consultations on patients.

Healthy Entrepreneurs’ model is based on professional procurement of commodities in bulk to keep the prices as low as possible. Together with Philips Foundation, Healthy Entrepreneurs explored a model to expand their services with diagnostic tools. Inconnection with a “doctor at a distance” telehealth model for more complex consults and follow-ups, 50 community health workers were empowered through an app-based platform for collaboration and data sharing.

The model has proven to work well. It increases disease awareness, expands access to healthcare services, and lowers patients’ healthcare costs while generating an income for the participating community health workers. For some, the extra income allowed them to quit side jobs or pay for their children’s school fees. With 6,000 franchise holders already in Uganda, the model is growing fast and expanding to hard-to-reach areas in other countries.

Young children are particularly susceptible to the effects of air pollution, being early in their development. Polluted air can cause health problems, including irreversible damage to lung function, worsening respiratory issues and asthma. Philips Foundation and GAP consider it essential to protect the health of children against air pollution, so they have the best opportunities in life, and new generations are healthy and protected against future health crises.

In 2022 we will report on the results of the project in Spain, which includes workshops for students to learn more about air pollution and a clean air plan for the school led by teachers, as well as the possibility of scaling up the project to other air-polluted regions in Europe.