ABSTRACT
Africa has a dual burden of disease, which causes preventable morbidities and fatalities. This is a result of our healthcare system's deficiencies, which has suffered a serious decline since the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this opened up the possibilities for digital health interventions, which innovators could utilize to provide solutions to these public health issues. Health hackathons, which offer an environment for innovators to brainstorm and collaborate, are rare in Africa. This paper outlines the planning and execution of a virtual hackathon and explores its implications for the promotion of public health in Africa. Over the course of a month, we collaborated with innovation hubs in Africa to hold an open call, a training session, a design sprint, as well as a 48-hour virtual hackathon. We received 68 submissions from 13 African nations. Following the selection of 10 teams, design thinking was employed to develop solutions to a public health problem in Africa. The theme for the hackathon was 'Promoting Health Equity with Digital Technology in Africa' and areas of focus were non-communicable diseases; infectious disease epidemiology and surveillance; and health information and data management. All ten teams developed prototypes, the top three teams were offered the opportunity to continue on to the startup accelerator program, while the winning team also received a cash prize. In conclusion, the public health hackathon challenged African medical students to develop innovations to healthcare problems. There is need for further study to evaluate the solutions developed.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Communicable Diseases , Mastocytosis, SystemicABSTRACT
Background :Telemedicine is a rapidly expanding technology used in healthcare settings, especially since the emergence of COVID-19. For this intervention to be implemented successfully, important skills are required from health professionals. Hence, this study seeks to determine the preparedness of African medical students for the use of telemedicine in healthcare delivery by assessing their knowledge, attitude, and skill set , Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study. Data were collected online through a 33-item pre-tested, self-administered questionnaire from three selected medical schools in Africa. Data were analysed using descriptive and analytical statistics with a significant level of 0.05. Data analysis was done on SPSS version 20, Results : Only 559 respondents were eligible for the study. 338 (60.5%) were male and the most prevalent age range was 21-23 years (276, 49.4%). 346 (61.9%) had good knowledge while 461 (82.5%) expressed a good attitude toward telemedicine. Only 144 (25.8%) had a good skill set in using telemedicine. 513 (91.6%) respondents agreed and strongly agreed that the use of telemedicine should be included in medical training. There was a statistically significant association between the skill set of respondents and schools (p=0.001) and gender (p<0.001), Conclusions: The respondents have a good attitude but average knowledge and poor skill set of telemedicine usage in healthcare delivery. However, the majority are interested in learning about telemedicine in medical training. This study shows the need to incorporate telemedicine within the curricula of African medical schools.