little to show for proliferation of apps in the health industry

Over the last decade, Kenya has seen a proliferation of mobile apps aimed at tackling various health challenges.

But at the same time, the impact of a majority of these m-health innovations is yet to be fully felt.

“We know that there are all manner of apps out there. But we need to ensure that they are really benefitting the patient,” Mr Onesmus Kimani, the head of e-health at the Ministry of Health (MoH) told the Business Daily. He noted that the government was working on a soon to be launched e-health policy whichwill guide innovations in the sector while ensuring that they are patient centred.

Dr James Mwanzia, a Nairobi based health systems consultant, said that technology is now an integral component of all development sectors and should thus be fully embraced.

Compared to the economic sector where mobile money apps like M-Pesa are thriving, he regreted that the health sector is lagging behind yet it has a direct impact on people’s lives. “But we are beginning to make in-roads in this area, so people shouldn’t give up. They may be sitting on a revolution like M-Pesa!” Dr Mwanzia stated that for health apps to be successful, there is a need for continuous data collection on the preferences and concerns of people using the platforms.

Whereas most apps can automatically generate data on user trends, he noted that having a customer care service or call centre is necessary to get more indepth information.

“It’s from such feedback mechanisms that you identify problems that need to be addressed so as to improve the performance of an app.”

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