Starting in January 2020, as many as 28 Eastern Cape schools will have access to a health and safety app that will educate both learners and teachers on basic first aid skills.
The brainchild of Dr Rufaro Nyamuda, KeepSafe Schools is the company bringing the app and a healthcare management system to life, providing online educational emergency care content in local schools.
“We are rolling it [the app] out slowly…and then we are slowly going to increase our numbers, with the goal that at the beginning of 2021, we’ll be available in all schools in the country.”
Nyamuda shares that she and her team are in the process of demoing the app in schools, noting the decision to slowly rollout is so that when they find kinks and problems, they will be able to iron them out.
Light bulb moment
Initially dubbed Cebisa Health, which is an isiXhosa word meaning one who gives advice, KeepSafe Schools aims to create safer school communities to ensure schools are not helpless when they need resources for the health, wellness and safety of learners and staff.
Nyamuda came up with the idea as part of the Volkswagen Touareg Sabbatical initiative, which called on applicants to share how they would put the luxury of time to good use with a fully funded three-month sabbatical dedicated to making a difference.
She came up with the idea after noticing statistics showing more children with conditions such as severe allergies, asthma, nosebleeds, diabetes, etc, with the number of children taking chronic medication increasing quite a lot.
Furthermore, she noticed the approach of schools managing the health and safety of learners has not changed to keep up with the changes in learners’ medical conditions.
You'll find that most schools can only afford to send one or two staff members to occupational health and safety training, she told ITWeb.
“We thought that we aren't doing enough to provide resources to assist staff at schools to keep their learners safe,” says the doctor. “We wanted to provide better insight into the health risks that schools are facing, and then to provide resources to help them mitigate these risks.”
KeepSafe provides an e-learning platform, which educates teachers on basic health concepts, first aid training as well as training to understand chronic conditions like asthma, Nyamuda highlights.
“This is so that teachers are better equipped and better empowered, so that they know how to take action if and when need be. We also stared introducing educating children on basic first aid skills.
“We find that a lot of programmes are geared towards teaching adults on how to keep children safe, but if you think about it, children are more than competent enough to learn basic skills.”
Curbing absenteeism
The schools will receive the KeepSafe dashboard that will provide insight into the health issues faced by learners. The app is linked to the health debt dashboard at the school.
She explains: “The dashboard allows the tracking of things like absenteeism and which group of learners are missing school the most and when exactly. That is our part to intervene because if we can see things like the asthmatic learners are missing school the most during winter season, then perhaps we can intervene and say the kids should get flu vaccines.”
Teachers are not the only ones that can use the app, adds Nyamuda, as it is also for parents, providing them with information regarding their children.
“Through the app the parents have, they provide all the health information the school requires.So, instead of filling out a paper-based form, it now becomes a digital form.
“All absenteeism will also be uploaded through that portal. Parents don't have to write to the school anymore; they can just put that information to the app.”
The app is subscription-based, she notes.
“We don't want you to pay the subscription to the app and then you have to go pay for data. We’ve engaged with one cellular network provider in the country and they will zero-rate the app. We still have to set up meetings with the others,” concludes Nyamuda.
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