Qualcomm join forces with Etisalat, NPHCDA, 3 others on CliniPAK360 for child health

ITRealms:

Qualcomm has joined forces with five organizations for the improvement of maternal and child health in Nigeria, tagged CliniPAK360 Mobile Health Application, reports ITRealms.

It was gathered by ITRealms that the collaboration was on development and deploy wireless of electronic medical record system to reduce the country's high maternal and infant mortality rate.

Happening at the ongoing Mobile World Congress, ITRealms learnt that Qualcomm Incorporated, through its Wireless Reach initiative partnered Vecna Cares Charitable Trust, the nonprofit arm of Vecna Technologies; InStrat Global Health Solutions, a turnkey health care solutions provider; Etisalat Nigeria, a Nigerian telecommunications operator; Nigeria’s National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), a part of the Federal Ministry of Health; and Evidence for Action, a campaign to ensure Africa’s mothers and babies survive pregnancy and childbirth, teamed up to develop and deploy a wireless, Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system for clinics throughout three states within the NPHCDA.

ITRealms reports that this brings about a paperless, mobile patient registry to midwives throughout rural Nigeria.

The CliniPAK360 project, ITRealms gathered, is aimed at reducing the country’s high maternal and infant mortality rates.

ITRealms recalls that Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country and has maternal and infant mortality rates that are among the world’s highest.

For instance, the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) estimates in The World Factbook that Nigeria experienced approximately 630 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 2010 and approximately 73 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in 2013.

In comparison, the maternal death rate in developed countries is approximately nine per 100,000.

Further, ITRealms reports that currently, NPHCDA midwives record patient data in paper notebooks and Regional Health Officers travel to the clinics to review the reports for accuracy.

According to Country Manager, Qualcomm for West Africa, Mr. Alex Dadson this will lighten the burden and increase accuracies and efficiencies, whereas the Wireless Reach-funded project features a cloud-based electronic medical record system based on Vecna Cares’ CliniPAK software and 3G-enabled tablets powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon processors to streamline and automate the in-field data capture and reporting process and help improve health outcomes.

He explained that as part of the project, each midwife uses a tablet to record patient data at the point of care.

“The data is transmitted wirelessly via Etisalat’s 3G mobile network to the CliniPAK central server, which aggregates and synchronizes the data with clinic-based CliniPAK units,” he said.

Remmy Nweke

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