Telemed Medical Services: m-Enabled Health Care Delivery

A shortage of health care professionals and insufficient infrastructure continue to impede the Ethiopian government’s efforts to provide universal health care. For every 10,000 Ethiopians, there are only three doctors, nurses, and midwives. With 80 percent of Ethiopians residing in rural areas, most live over five kilometers away from the nearest health center. Even with key services offered for free at public facilities, the time and costs of traveling to them, combined with long wait times and stockouts, often deter people from seeking care. Lacking basic health information, many consult with informal health practitioners, or leave conditions untreated.

Barriers to access make detection and successful treatment of diseases like HIV and tuberculosis (TB), which require intensive regimens and patient monitoring, extremely challenging. In 2013, Ethiopia had an estimated 790,000 people living with HIV, as well as 210,000 new cases of TB each year. The HANSHEP Health Enterprise Fund, implemented by the SHOPS project, selected Telemed Medical Services to receive a grant to decrease barriers to heath care access and improve care for HIV and TB patients through its innovative mobile phone platform.

Source: USAID
Year: 2015