Vula Mobile, a local mobile app that connects healthcare workers, particularly those in remote or rural areas, with specialists, was named the overall winner of the Sanofi Afric@Tech challenge, which took place in France recently.
Organised by pharmaceutical giant Sanofi, the Afric@Tech challenge aims to accelerate healthcare innovation in Africa, by supporting health-tech start-ups
that have developed tech solutions seeking to solve the issue of quality healthcare accessibility.
Ten finalists were chosen from a number of African countries to represent the continent at Viva Technology, an annual commercial convention dedicated to technological innovation held in Paris. The three-day event brought together over 6 000 specialists and stakeholders dedicated to digital transformation.
Among the finalists were health-tech start-ups Bisa, GiftedMom, Informed Healthcare, KEA Medicals, MedTrucks, Otrac, Sagitarix, Yapill, and Appenberg Digital Publishing.
Live presentations were held in front of a select audience. Vula Mobile won first prize. In second place was pan-African company Yapili (an app that connects patients with licensed physicians), andCameroon's GiftedMom (an app that provides pregnant women with access to health advice around the clock), came third.
All three start-ups will walk away with development and mentorship support from Sanofi, and exposure to meet potential sponsors to further expand their business.
Thibault Crosnier Leconte, country chair and RX Medical Group general manager, SA, Namibia and Botswana, explained: "We are excited to have unearthed such ground-breaking technology that serves the disadvantaged on their journeys to health and healing.
"All finalists gave such impressive exhibitions of their works, so while we were proud of each, we also had a tough time deciding who would take the prize. We wish every single one of our African innovators all the best in their business endeavours."
Vula Mobile is the brainchild of Dr William Mapham, who conceived the idea for the app while working at the Vula Emehlo Eye Clinic in Swaziland in 2014. The mobile app connects health workers in remote and under-served areas of SA to medical and surgical specialists across 15 medical specialties in urban centres.
The app was initially only for ophthalmology referrals, but Vula added cardiology, orthopaedics and burns in April 2016. This redesign enabled the app to scale to include referral forms for any number of specialities.
Through the app, GPs and primary healthcare workers can access tailored specialist advice within minutes, saving both patients and medical practitioners time and money, while attending to potentially dangerous health issues.
Mapham says it was a great honour to be selected as the winner, and a privilege to get to meet other innovators at the high-profile global event.
"The work on exhibition at the event showed different approaches to a wide range of health problems. Each country has unique challenges with delivering healthcare and it was enlightening to learn about these first-hand from other innovators.
"Sanofi is a global company, so we hope to work together with them to expand our services, both in South Africa and into other countries too."
The app, notes Mapham, will add more specialties in the next few weeks, namely neurology and critical care (intensive care), in an effort to further expand and service a wider group of users.
"Through the challenge, there is the possibility of nationally impactful and internationally revolutionary partnership between Vula and Sanofi.
"One of our dreams is to present artificial intelligence that gives health workers a differential before even contacting a specialist. This would be ground-breaking. Healthcare is best delivered through collaboration, and we believe the sponsorship opportunities presented to us by Sanofi could prove to be a magnificent example of this," he concludes.
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