Bridging the Gap in Kenyan Healthcare: Nadia, a Timely Innovation for the COVID-19 Pandemic
MEST’s Head of Marketing, Veronica Mulhall, interviewed Nadia’s co-founder Olamide Akomolafe about how telemedicine is helping during COVID-19.
Veronica:
Nadia is possibly one of the better-poised companies for a pandemic. How can telemedicine play a positive role?
Olamide:
Especially during COVID-19, it has been a huge challenge to receive medical help in person when you need it.
It’s important to note that even in the midst of a pandemic, people fall ill with other illnesses — It doesn’t have to be COVID-19. Recently, we have had people sign up to Nadia to receive treatment for malaria. They could not go to the hospital because there’s a lockdown, but they had to be treated. Telemedicine helps to reduce, first of all, the pressure on the health systems and infrastructure. Secondly, it helps with supporting the social distancing efforts (including staying home to flatten the curve) to help reduce the spread of the COVID-19 disease.
We’re grateful telemedicine is able to serve such a powerful purpose during COVID-19. has brought attention to it, to make people know that there are several things that could be handled without them having to spend so much time commuting to the hospital, risking themselves and putting themselves in front of infections.
Veronica:
Do you still have the same amount of medical practitioners that are available on the platform, or has that changed with the demand in hospitals or the demands with COVID-19?
Olamide:
Interestingly, we’re seeing a lot more doctors sign up for Nadia because they are more curious about meeting patients digitally, and accurately diagnosing them. Being at the forefront of fighting this pandemic, they are, of course, also open to exploring more ways to keep themselves out of harm’s way.
Our major challenge right now is educating our users, the patients, and changing their mindset towards telemedicine. Many people still think they need to go to the hospital physically to get a diagnosis, and that contradicts the advice to stay at home.
Veronica:
What types of COVID-19 initiatives have you put in place?
Olamide:
We added a COVID-19 tracking tool with the aim of working with Ministries of Health in different parts of the world to reduce the workload on their rapid response teams. The COVID-19 tracker is designed in such a way that we ask questions to be able to assess the risks of catching COVID-19, for example, a person’s interactions in the last couple of days or symptoms they’re facing, and then pass on the information to the appropriate health authorities.
If the tracker tool detects a person to be at a low risk of having COVID-19, we just give the advice to stay healthy, wash your hands, drink water, and stay safe. We are trying to educate people on how to stay safe this period because there’s a lot of information out there. Our focus is not only physical health, but also mental health. A person can be physically healthy but down mentally, especially because everybody is at home not much to do. We are pushing both ends to help educate people and help them with activities to do during this period.
We also have a care package that includes PPEs like gloves, sanitary wipes, and soap delivered to our users’ doorsteps. We added that to our features because we realized that people were aware of what they needed but it was difficult to access these essential products due to overshopping and hoarding. In Kenya, those things went out of stock pretty quickly because there was a rush and those who caught on late were left stranded.
Veronica:
Amazing. And, how are users responding to these extra efforts?
Olamide:
The users have been delightful to engage within this period. Realizing that there aren’t enough tests to go round, many people have been using the COVID-19 tracker tool to see how at-risk they are and if needed, proceed for further testing. We have had upwards of 2,000 people checking into Nadia and giving regular updates about the state of their health and really engaging the tracker tool. Our care packages have also met a huge need, and more people are able to access those essential products.
Veronica:
Have you heard any specific anecdotal research or feedback from a user who’s maybe tried telemedicine during this time?
Olamide:
Yes! We have had a couple of people sending us videos to appreciate our efforts. It’s interesting because it is a great way for people to be able to get the help they need and also give them the psychological security to know they are not risking becoming infected through using telemedicine compared to traveling to a doctor’s office.
We have also gotten feedback on our pricing. Rather than making it pay as you go, users have suggested a subscription-based model that they would be able to use for the entire month whenever they fall sick. We’re looking into it and working on switching to a subscription model.
Prescriptions are emailed straight to users’ email boxes and they can take it directly to the pharmacist to get what they need. Also, it has been useful for people that don’t want to go too far or spend a long time commuting to be able to get the medical help they need. Overall, users have been very appreciative, and it gets us excited to make sure our features are more robust to cover every aspect of their requests.
Veronica:
Is there anything that the government or other businesses could do to help you deliver telemedicine and the COVID-19 tracker more effectively to those who need it?
Olamide:
We are not charging for the trial version. We just want to be able to help people if they have symptoms, and help reduce their risk of infecting others around them. Working with the government or a big business as the official trial partner for the tracker would be very useful. If more users adopt the app, it would reduce the pressure on infrastructure and help with quick management of identifying problem areas.
One of the things we’re doing with our data is we’re collecting location information also to know those areas with a higher risk of infection and vice-versa. We’re trying to help map the disease, so the government understands where it is mostly concentrated. We have the kind of data to deal with it much easier. If we can sync with the already existing systems, we could help manage this pandemic better.
Veronica:
Do you think the tracker is going to be something that could be used even post COVID-19 for tracking other symptoms or other future diseases?
Olamide:
I don’t believe that life ‘after COVID-19’ will completely change; people would still be getting infected and we don’t know when we will have a permanent solution, such as a vaccine. For as long as COVID-19 exists, which we know for a fact is going to be a very long time, we would have the tracker out there and it’s going to be useful for other pandemics because it can be switched or modified as needed. It is going to be very useful in the long run, and remain a feature on our app.
Veronica:
What lessons can HealthTech learn from this pandemic?
Olamide:
We need to focus on simple, straight to the point solutions that save lives. No extras, no fluff. It doesn’t have to be very complicated; it doesn’t have to have AI or machine learning in it to save people’s lives, to help with whatever symptoms or conditions they’re going through.
I’m also hoping for increasing investments in this space. The more resources, the more that can get done. We never expected a pandemic this huge, much less prepared for it, but this could have been better managed if we had things in place already that would just solve those problems.
Veronica:
Anything else you’d like to add?
Olamide:
One more thing. We understand that people are going through a lot; we understand that your mental health will be seriously stressed. Now, we are hoping that you can stay safe, talk to family members when you need to. We have a clinical psychologist on Nadia whenever you need to talk to somebody. If you start feeling COVID-19 symptoms or other symptoms, we’re always here to help. It is easily accessible and available 24/7.
Just stay safe. We’ll all get through this!
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If you would like to learn more about Nadia or the COVID-19 tracker, please reach out to Olamide Akomolafe at olamide@eligiushealth.com.
