BARAZA REPORT: 

FOR THE 1ST AFRICA-DESIGN BARAZA HELD ON THE 10TH OF NOVEMBER 2021

 

Aim for the Baraza

To showcase the healthcare projects being done and exchange ideas around design and sustainability issues with/in Africa and beyond relating to healthcare.

 

Themes for the Baraza:

1.  Healthcare Systems/Data Integration
2.  Healthcare Systems Interfaces Design
3. Remote Access of Healthcare Data
4. Securing Healthcare Data

 

Baraza Preparations

1. The Strathmore University (SU) Team agreed to conduct the first Baraza. This followed the interest from the ICED21 Conference participants on the ongoing Healthcare projects at Strathmore University 
2. Africa-Design (AD) granted SU the go-ahead to conduct the Baraza
3. The date/time of the Baraza was agreed as the 10th of November 2021 at 16:00 EAT.
4.  Given that this was the first Baraza, guidelines for organizing a Baraza were prepared by the AD team.
5. A registration link was created for the Baraza. A total of 34 individual responses/registrations were received. 
6. A poster for the Baraza was prepared by SU. The poster contained the registration link.
7. The Africa-Design team circulated the Poster within their networks
8. The SU team additionally circulated the Poster within their networks.
9. A Zoom link was created in advance for the Baraza
10. Members we admitted into the Zoom meeting promptly

 

Conduct of the Baraza

1. The (Zoom) meeting was started 10 minutes before the scheduled time.
2. The meeting was set to record the session.
3. Participants were admitted into the meeting as they arrived, and a determination was made on a number that is adequate for you to start.
4. The baraza started at 4-5 minutes past the scheduled start time and the mobiliser/coordinator (Dr. Bernard Shibwabo) welcomed participants and (briefly introduced the facilitating institution- SU) 
5. Dr. Shibwabo explained to the participants the purpose of the baraza and took them through the rest of the agenda which included:

a) General introductions

b) Opening remarks

c) Presentations on basic information about the institution(s) holding the baraza, the concept being discussed (i.e., healthcare), the progress being made so far on the concept(s) for discussion and a brief on the relevant pertinent issue(s)/challenges in the society.

d) Discussions: (in the form of Questions and answer session)

e) Way forward and closing remarks

 

While conducting the Baraza, the following considerations were made:

a) Being flexible to accommodate diverse persons of different backgrounds and seniority.

b) All remarks and presentations had to be precise and concise so as to have adequate time for dialogue and discussions.

c) Recording recommendations and emerging issues that require follow up and further action. 

d)  The coordinator was to make the closing remarks and officially close the meeting.

 

A Summary of presentations made

 

1. The Challenge-Driven Healthcare Project that was jointly being undertaken by students at SU and Botho University. The discussions about this were facilitated by three SU students namely (Eric Njoroge, Linet Kiunga, & John Silas Okello)

This discussion brought out conversations around:

• The application of Design Thinking while working on the healthcare challenge.
• The challenges encountered while concurrently working on a/the healthcare challenge across diverse geographical and academic locations (Strathmore University and Botho University).
•  What the students enjoy(ed) in the co-design/collaboration (including working in Teams with Botho University students).
•  The current design issues emerging when integrating the proposed solution to the existing system(s). 

2. PhD Work by Bernard Alaka (A PhD student at Strathmore University). The work is titled: Speech Contextualization Model for Dysarthria Speech: Situational Semantic-Projection Approach

This discussion brought out conversations around:

•  Localization of Data to overcome the privacy and confidentiality concerns
•  The application of Federated algorithms in healthcare

3. Dr. Evans Almeida: A doctor working with the Strathmore Medical Centre.

This discussion brought out conversations around:

• ‘Prevention is better than cure’.
• The interest in “systems that work”

4. Titus Tunduny (A PhD student at Strathmore University) with interest in Federated Learning (specifically for healthcare contexts).

• Involved as lead developer for Commodity (drugs) tracking
• Mobile application for infant medical diagnosis done with The Ministry of Health and Clinton Health Access Initiative.
• Challenges encountered include: network issues, integration with existing systems etc. The challenges were overcome by: developing an offline module for staggered data exchange.

5. Kisumu County Healthcare- A perspective from Kisumu and beyond

Dr. George Rae, The CEO of Kisumu County Referral Hospital (This is a  Teaching, Research & Referral Hospital) presented a myriad of healthcare concerns related to healthcare systems design as follows:

• Health promotion.
• Partnerships, behaviour, technology (AI/ML)
• Sub-molecular space with ‘remote’ diagnosis 
• Kisumu lies on the equator providing conducive environment for insects including Mosquitos.
• Diagnosis of Sickle-cell. Being done jointly with Maseno University
• Ongoing research to overcome late diagnosis of diseases e.g., cancer
• Focus on the shifting emphasis from the hospitals to the households and communities: focus on health promotion. Diseases can be prevented at household level. The simple things in life: wholesome water, nutrition, exercise, mental health and rest to rejuvenate the body.
• Households could be registered in an Information Systems using blockchain technology. With this, follow-up could be made. 
• Effects of Covid-19 on Mental health
• Risks and confidentiality relating to healthcare data.
• Competition of economies in healthcare- companies want to make money on healthcare.

 

A Summary of Recommendations

1. Participants were encouraged to exchange contacts and make follow-ups.
2. Subsequent Baraza(s) could be organized so as to exhaustively address the challenges raised as well as sustainability aspects in healthcare (systems) design. 
3. There should be someone on standby to support the coordinator (particularly in welcoming those who are joining the meeting late).
4. A Vote of Thanks could be useful at the end.
5. Maintain the aspect of allowing everyone to speak at the onset.
6. Encourage participants to use the Chat and to post their contacts on the chat.

 

Baraza Attendance Report

Participants: 30

Start Time: 11/10/2021 15:53

Duration (Minutes): 111

End Time: 11/10/2021 17:43

 

Affiliations of Participants

Strathmore University, Kenya

University of Michigan, USA

Makerere University, Uganda

Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden

Brigham Young University, USA

Delft University of Technology, Netherlands

Botho University, Botswana

Stanford University, USA

University of California San Francisco, USA

Kisumu County Referral Hospital, Kenya

Strathmore Medical Centre, Kenya

ETH Zurich, Switzerland

Technical University of Denmark

University of Cambridge, UK