Tanzania’s CHIL Femtech Center launches AI telemedicine product for healthy schools in Africa
Schools are tasked with providing children with knowledge, critical thinking skills, and socio-emotional skills, including self-regulation and resilience. This provides a solid foundation for children to thrive and succeed. Although most nations have focused their efforts on primary education, there is a wider acceptance of the integration of health services into schooling environments as a fundamental part of promoting the well-being of the whole child.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has long recognized the link between health and education and the potential for schools to play a central role in safeguarding student health and well-being. They have identified school health services as a “coordinated system that ensures a continuum of care from school to home to community health care provider and back.’
Schools offer a unique opportunity to implement effective health services at scale for children and adolescents.
School-age children and adolescents, those aged 5–19 years, experience a range of largely preventable health problems, including unintentional injury, interpersonal violence, sexual and reproductive health issues, communicable diseases and noncommunicable diseases, and a range of mental health challenges. It is well accepted that school-age children and adolescents have positive physical, sexual, psychosocial, and neurocognitive health and development needs as they progress from childhood to adulthood. The need for quality health care for school-aged children is great, but globally the quality of health services for them is not yet universal.
Across the world, many children simply can’t attend school due to ill health, hunger, and poverty, particularly in Africa.
According to the World Health Organization, Africa has 300,000 doctors and 1.2 million nurses. However, stationed doctors are reportedly absent from more than 80% of African schools.
In Africa where anemia and worm infections are prevalent, de-worming and micronutrient supplementation can keep children in school for an additional 2.5 years. Additionally, the promotion of eyecare, mental health, and well-being of children, and prevention of school violence represents a significant return on investment for countries, in addition to improving the lives of children and adolescents, with benefits extending to homes and knock-on effects to entire communities.
“Students learn best in safe and healthy schools,” said Audrey Azoulay, the UNESCO Director-General. Speaking on behalf of the partners, she urged the international community to support countries in investing in health, nutrition, and social protection at school, “because children deserve an environment where they can reach their full potential.”
Key school health interventions include the provision of vaccinations, deworming, psychosocial support, and safe and inclusive learning environments that promote health and well-being.
The Tanzanian-based CHIL Femtech Center, part of the CHIL AI Lab Group, has released a new telemedicine technology that will help kids in schools across Africa access medical care. The telemedicine app links schools with telemedicine equipment manufacturers who have technologies that are compatible with CHIL’s Telemedicine Artificial Intelligence chatbot, allowing students to have full-time access to online doctors. The unique product offers a range of services including e-consultation, where each student can consult with one of 200 online doctors; e-referrals, where a student can be referred to a partner laboratory; and, and e-pharmacy, where drugs prescribed can be ordered online and delivered directly to the school.
The innovative aspect of the product is that students can access these services and the school pays back later. The partner school will serve as the student’s guarantor and repay the loan before the end of the term.
“We are thrilled to launch this product in Tanzania and bring this game-changing solution to schools across Africa,” said Shamim Nabuuma Kaliisa, the co-founder and CEO of CHIL Femtech Center. “Our goal is to help improve the health and well-being of students by providing them with access to quality health care services. We believe this product will have a positive impact on schools and the health care industry as a whole.”
The company’s operations will begin in Tanzania, intending to expand to Kenya and Uganda with plans to operate throughout the entire African continent by 2025.
Aaliyah Madyun is a writer, global content strategist, and consultant specializing in all things tech in Africa and beyond. She is based in Nairobi, Kenya.
