Startups in Nigeria: The Biggest Challenge is Access to Market (Jennie Nwokoye, Clafiya)

One of the biggest challenges for healthcare startups in Nigeria is access to market.

“In Nigeria, healthcare is fragmented, making it difficult to find distribution channels. We have to be creative and may need to look outside healthcare for distribution channels.” , says Jennie Nwokoye is the founder and CEO of Clafiya – a digital primary healthcare service that connects individuals and businesses to health practitioners to provide convenient, quality, and affordable, on-demand primary care from their mobile phones.

In this discussion, Jennie explains: 

• What are the healthcare challenges in Nigeria,
• How do startups do business in Nigeria and why is it difficult to scale,
• How do startups work with local and international investors and more

Transcript: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/primary-care-nigeria-clafiya

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Nigeria: Innovation in One of The Worst Healthcare Systems in The World

One of the speakers at the Nextmed Health Conference 2023 said: “In the past, people didn’t age; they just died.” This is still a daily reality in many low-income countries, which face a lack of workforce, poor healthcare system structure, and lack of resources. In this episode, we will learn about Nigeria. Nigeria has 220 million people which is roughly ⅔ of the population of the US.

While many healthcare-related resources are scarce, the Internet is available and so is the fierce ambition of local entrepreneurs. These use digital tools to bring healthcare information and care closer to patients or to upskill the workforce. So what does care in Nigeria look like? What challenges do startups face? Where do they get investments? 

Hear from:

• Charles Umeh, Chief Medical Officer of CribMD,
• Ossai Ifeanyi CEO of CribMD,
• Jennie Nwokoye, CEO of Clafiya and
• Christian Chidoziem, Pharmacy Student and Entrepreneur.

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https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/

How Are Drones in Malawi Solving Medical Supply Chain Challenges?

Africa is a huge continent with 1.2 billion people and a diverse set of countries. Healthcare systems are generally poor, with workforce and supply chain struggles, and infrastructure challenges such as power outages.

In this episode you will hear about how drones are used in Malawi for healthcare delivery.

Herbert Weirather is the CEO of Jedsy – a technology company based in Switzerland with the ultimate aim of designing and developing high-end multipurpose drones. Jedsy is present in Switzerland, Malawi, India and Brazil. In this discussion, Herbert explained:

• What challenges are present in the medical supply chain in Africa,
• Which stakeholders does the company work with, what’s their business model,
• and why there is no such thing as competition in the medical supply drone delivery space, because healthcare needs all the help it can get. 

Newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/

https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/

Jedsy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGaXHdjoQ-Q

https://jedsy.com/

How Is France Executing The Vision To Become The European Digital Health Leader?

In June 2021, France announced a €7.5 billion Health Innovation Plan, as part of a broader financial investment to boost the French industry.  This funding goes beyond digital health, it’s aimed at supporting biotech development, startups, medtech, and more. In 2021, The eHealth Acceleration Strategy was launched, a large part of which includes upskilling and training new and existing healthcare experts, and medical and social workers in digital health. In today’s discussion you will hear from Louisa Stüwe is the project director of the Ministerial eHealth delegation at the French Ministry of Health. We discussed how the French strategy was designed, who was involved, and what has been realized to date. She also explains the process for reimbursement of digital therapeutics software medical devices and telemonitoring, how France supports the secondary use of medical data, and more. 

Newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/

https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/

Additional resources:

• French core information platfom for digital health information: https://gnius.esante.gouv.fr/en 
• TEHDAS state of digital health in 12 countries in Europe report: https://tehdas.eu/results/member-states-readiness-to-benefit-from-the-ehds-regulation-varies/ 
• Health data hub: https://www.health-data-hub.fr/

Bringing ePrescribing To The Next Level: To Patients

The US has had ePrescribing since 2001. However, after four years, only 4% of clinicians had adopted it. Electronic prescribing became legal in all 50 states by 2007. Eight years later, controlled substances and prior authorization were enabled on the singular ePrescribing network. In 2022, a new player entered the market, founded by FDB – a global provider of clinical decision support tools and resources for medication.

FDB Vela sets itself apart with newer technology and additional features. They are also working on building a veterinarian ePrescribing network. In today’s discussion with Lathe Bigler – Vice President of Clinical Network Services at FDB (First Databank) and General Manager of FDB Vela™, you will hear more about what ePrescribing entails under the new network. Additionally, you will learn about FDB’s plans to enhance medication information for patients, improve accessibility to pharmacogenomics insights, and more.

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Website: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com

(RERUN) Kenya, Rwanda, Ghana: How is Medtronic Labs Redefining Chronic Disease Management (Anne Stake)

A systemic approach to care for non-communicable diseases like hypertension and diabetes is Africa is in its early stages, with the biggest challenge for patients being the price of medications, says Anne Stake, Chief Strategy and Product Officer at Medtronic Labs. 

Medtronic Labs is a nonprofit organization that works with governments and local communities in across Africa to create local ecosystems for the management of hypertension and diabetes.

In this episode, Anne Stake explains:

• how does Medtronic Labs work,
• why are they present in Africa,
• how to run successful non-communicable diseases programs in Africa,
• why regulation isn’t as loose in less developed markets than the West might think,
• …and more!

This is a rerun of an episode first published in July 2022.

www.facesofdigitalhealth.com

Excerpt and full episode with Anne Stake: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/medtronic-labs-africa?rq=medtronic

Herve Mwamba – South Africa & Africa More Broady: What’s The State of Medical Device Regulation? : https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/medical-device-regulation-mdr-africa?rq=herve%20

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