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Health Tech Companies to watch out for in Nairobi
The Health sector is changing fast in Kenya thanks to great innovations like Telemedicine and Mobile Health, majorly driven by emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Data Analytics wearable technologies, Robotics and many more.
These technologies are playing prominent roles in the healthcare industry. For example, wearable technologies have been used previously to help people monitor heart rate and the number of calories they have burnt, and applications have been developed to help combat stress and anxiety.
Apps have also been used to offer sexual health education whereby still in the African Setup this remains a taboo.
On the other hand, Artificial Intelligence has made healthcare industry nothing short of spectacular. So, which are some of these companies both locally and internationally that are changing the health sector narrative?
Well, here are some of the companies in Nairobi that we think are in the forefront using their advanced technology to make a positive difference in healthcare.
Flare: Flare is a ride-hailing app for ambulances in Kenya. Founded by Caitlin Dolkart and her partner Maria Rabinovich, the app launched in 2017. Flare users can call for an ambulance using the Flare app or a hotline. Using the Flare App, users can track and communicate with the dispatched team until it arrives. Ambulance drivers are equipped with smartphones and Google maps, with the exact location of pickup and directions that account for traffic. Like Uber, a percentage will be taken off each ride booked on Flare.
Sophie Bot: Sophie Bot is Sexual Reproductive Health app developed by a Kenya Software Engineer Irving Amukasa. The app is an intelligent system that is fed with verified information on sexuality and sexual reproductive health and relays the information to its users through conversations that are driven by text or voice chats. Her features include anonymous forums and digital chat bots built in on the app, Facebook, Telegram, Messenger and Twitter.
Xelipha: Founded by Carlos Atore and Lauren Welch Xelpha Health provides an electronic healthcare platform for the modern age, designed to facilitate high quality medical care in resource constrained settings. The platform offers a mobile-first, cloud-based, simplified clinical management system, and focuses on user experience and high fidelity record keeping. The company is based at Nairobi Garage, Kilimani Office Space.
Sisu Global Health: Sisu Global Health is a medical device company that creates products for us in the emerging markets. The Company’s first product, Hemafuse, is a patented surgical tool to manually salvage, filter, and recycle blood from internal bleeding back to the patient.
Hemafuse is the first in a pipeline of medical devices that address challenges unique to emerging markets, such as blood access. We have achieved regulatory approval in Ghana and Kenya for Hemafuse and are entering the market launch phase as a company.
They recently moved into the East African Market and have their offices located at our Kilimani Office Space.
My Dawa: MYDAWA is a technology based service in Kenya that enables consumers to purchase authentic high quality medicines, health and wellness products. The service, a first of it’s kind, assures quality and gives consumers value for their money for medicine purchased. Earlier this month, MyDawa received a Sh300 million ($3 million) funding for its countrywide expansion. The cash from Africa HealthCare Master Fund is the first round of external financing that the company has received since it began operations in 2017.
Unumed: Unumed a local company that provides Integrated Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) for all types of health facilities from super hospitals to the smallest rural clinics. How the system works is that traditionally doctors would pt down their reports on notes on a piece of paper and all the other things would be done on paper and filed in a physical file.
Well, this would risk getting lost. With this system in place doctors input clinical notes, nurses register triage information, accountants make insurance claim reports, cashiers prepare bills, pharmacists keep track of inventory, front-desk receptionists register and direct patients to queues, lab technicians receive lab requests and managers access dashboards that stream real-time information on financial, operational and clinical performance. Making all the hospital operations seamless as securing the patients data.
Globally, other companies that have have changed the health sector include:
Jvion: Jvion is a company that focuses on improving long-term physical health by addressing stress and other cognitive factors. The company creates what they call the Jvion Machine, which has been used to help over two million patients. While the machine uses artificial intelligence to identify physical risk factors that were previously undetected, most risk factors are cognitive. The technology used to run this machine has found interesting correlations between various psychological factors and physical ailments.
Bio Beats: Bio Beats is a company that develops apps that specialize in improving patient’s well-being. Their apps focus on dealing with stress. Bio Beats uses sophisticated artificial intelligence algorithms to better understand the factors that contribute to stress and the steps that people need to take to mitigate it. Their app is programmed to help people develop better resilience to stress, which will help them improve their long-term health. The app offers a variety of features, which include helping promote better sleep, encouraging more physical activity and conducting a regular assessment of your mood.
Ginger.io:In a world where people do not speak about Mental Health well, Ginger.io Ginger’s founders developed a technology based on the idea that the data from our interactions with mobile phones could provide important insights about our emotional health. In the seven years since, Ginger has collected billions of data points that now power the world’s most advanced behavioral health system, empowering a team of high-quality coaches, therapists and psychiatrists.
Ginger.io is one of the most cutting-edge data-driven solutions to improving mental health. They keep track of different patient inputs to establish causal links between various mental health issues and create custom patient plan
DreaMed: Managing diabetes can be incredibly frustrating and complex. The biggest problem is that every diabetic patient’s needs are different. They must account for gender, weight and metabolic factors. Their diet also plays a key role in their diabetes management plan.
DreaMed is a new company that has found new ways to improve the delivery of diabetes management services. It uses carefully tracked biometrics a data to help develop a custom treatment plan for every patient.
