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The Quest to Digitize Healthcare in Small Clinics Across Africa
By Kinya Kaunjuga
What would normally be a 30 minute drive had turned into a four hour adventure. The four men who recruit clinics for BANDA’s clinic management software had spent days mapping out their route. They were hopeful that recent protests in the country would not take place on the day they had meticulously selected to launch into a new territory in the city.
As fate would have it, or as Africa chooses what to blow your way after the rooster crows, unexpected rowdy mobs were gathering randomly wherever the police presence was scanty and blocking roads and highways, looting shops and destroying property. That’s what our implementation team at BANDA drove straight into.
Weaving through market stalls connected with makeshift timber bridges that were really just footpaths, they drove through a crowd of angry demonstrators battling it out with the police. It was too late to turn back. They had made it all the way with just less than a mile left to reach their first planned stop. Each of them knew it was time to gun it through the last cluster of market stalls and they braced themselves.
No one expected what happened next. As they descended towards the edge of the last alleyway with a clear road straight ahead in sight, a vendor began to lift his mukokoteni (homemade cart) and move it forward into the alley. Everyone in the car began to shout at the vendor to move. Paul, the skinniest of the team, had almost half his body hanging outside the back window screaming and waving at the man to get his attention. In a scene that mimicked something from an Indiana Jones movie, a space suddenly appeared right beside the car and David swerved, missing the vendor by a whisker. As he slammed on the brakes, they all turned back to look at what had just transpired. A mama mboga (veggie mama) was holding a rope and waving them on with a big smile. Some of the vendors were not new to the alleyway being used as an escape route by drivers trying to avoid traffic on the main road. They secure the roofs of the makeshift stalls with ropes, which they can easily loosen or pull back to create space for cars.
Early Adopters in the Slums: The Journey
When the Banda recruitment quartet (Mike, David, Lawrence and Paul) are out in new areas, they are looking for what Simon Sinek describes well as “early adopters.” These are low-resource clinics ready to try an innovation like BandaGo before everyone else. The implementers know from experience what characteristics they are looking for in these clinics. Here are a few of them:
- The clinic has clearly defined problems they want a solution for, and BandaGo already has a simple solution for those problems.
- The clinic owner works full-time in the facility.
- The clinic has a highly motivated champion to begin making the switch from paper.
The implementers know that once a few early adopter clinics with the right characteristics are onboard, the implementers understand that referrals will quickly become the primary driver of new clinic clients. This network effect—where one clinic refers the next—accelerates growth. They also know that BandaGo is far from fully developed. As Banda Health Co-Founder and President Dr. Steve Letchford says, “The exciting thing is that BandaGo is being built in Africa for Africa – adding value, creating impact. As we keep investing in making BandaGo more powerful, we are able to both help a wider range of frontline clinics use technology to transform healthcare, and help them do more with that technology!”
Thank you for making this possible!
The Banda team is deeply committed to bringing hope for the world’s most vulnerable patients using technology innovations and partnerships. We cannot thank each of you enough for joining our team as donors and encouragers to make this possible.
Our dreams are ambitious, and every bit of support is helping as we raise the remaining $139,000 for this year’s budgeted development work. Julie, our volunteer operations lead, makes sure that we stay transparent and accountable with our finances and our Financial Statements and Independent Accountants’ Review Reports. We are so thankful for you!
Kinya Kaunjuga
Kinya brings passion, an infectious laugh and 15 years of experience in the corporate and non-profit world to Banda Health. A Texas A&M alumni with a degree in Journalism and Economics, she says, "I love doing things that matter!"