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While the experience of the average Nigerian with
several sectors of the economy has evolved through the use of technology
over the past decade, there has been minimal impact on the health
sector. This guest post describes an initiative that intends to change
that.
By Alex Chiejina
Many incubation and innovation platforms in Nigeria
target information technology for finance, agriculture and e-commerce,
but very few platforms focusing on health innovation/technology in
healthcare delivery. While groups in African countries like Malawi,
Uganda and Ethiopia have developed locally appropriate health
technologies and innovations such as m-Health apps to improve health
outcomes, the low application of innovation and technology in healthcare
remains a missed opportunity in transforming healthcare delivery in
Nigeria.
In an attempt to galvanize Nigerians into action in this space, the Private Sector Health Alliance of Nigeria’s Nigeria Health Innovation Marketplace
is calling on innovators, techies, academic institutions, private
sector companies, businesses, civil society, clinicians, researchers,
NGOs and individuals to apply in the $1million Health Innovation
Challenge (video).
The Health Innovation Challenge
(HIC), is a multi-stage competition whose primary focus is to spur a
broader range of innovations (process, technology, market, service
delivery) to respond to specific health sector challenges that will have
both a social impact [progress in health indices] and/or commercial
viability and scalability.
Dr. Muntaqa Umar-Sadiq, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Alliance, says that “the
Health Innovation Challenge seeks to improve health outcomes and
mitigate health market failures through deploying technology and process
solutions to the health sector”. In order to find out what problems
Nigerians are facing in the health sector, the Alliance engaged with
people in all six geopolitical zones and developed health systems
problem statements that summarized these challenges. Problem statements
ranged from service delivery around newborn care to the development of
forecasting models for infectious diseases. These are some of the
challenges that the HIC hopes to confront with the solutions that will
be developed.
Prizes will go towards the implementation of
innovations as grants as well as to reward innovators for their grand
efforts in cash prizes. The award categories include several US$100,000,
US$50,000 and US$30,000 grants.
Innovators who are shortlisted in the first stage
will go on to the next stage of the challenge, which requires them to
submit comprehensive business plans. The second stage will be preceded
by a multi-day boot camp where subject matter experts will provide them
with sector specific and business support to develop their business
plans. These will be submitted to a review panel and defended in live
presentations made to an expert panel of judges. Winners of the
challenge will pilot or implement their innovations for a period of 12
months. The awards will be disbursed based on outcomes, with tranches of
payments triggered by achievement of certain technical and operational
performance measures.
The Alliance has put together a technical assistance
team of core health and business subject matter experts to support the
implementation process and drive results. Applicants can apply and
respond via the official portal for the competition at http://nhim.phn.ng/competitions. To showcase a promising innovation on the Health Innovation Hub/Virtual portal, please register at www.nhim.phn.ng/user/register.
The Private Sector Health Alliance of Nigeria is
Nigeria’s foremost private sector platform, which aims at mobilizing
business leaders and corporate entities towards leveraging their
collective capabilities, expertise and resources in a bid to accelerate
improvements in health outcomes. The founding board includes Alhaji
Aliko Dangote (Founding Patron), Mr Jim Ovia and Dr Muhammad Ali Pate
(Co-Chairs) as well as Mr Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, Mrs Sola-David Borha
and Dr Muntaqa Umar-Sadiq.
