NIGERIA— Nigeria’s Network for Health Equity and Development (NHED) has partnered with Vantage Health Technologies, to tap into Vantage’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) toolkit to build help build effective expertise in Nigeria’s enigmatic public health system.
The partnership will be officially launched at a round table event on “Technology enabled Health Systems Strengthening” that will be co-hosted by the partnership on 20th July in Abuja, for high-level government, donor, and private sector health stakeholders.
The new international partnership will combine AI with real-world experience to boost the Nigerian health system.
Vantage Health Technologies, part of the BroadReach Group, which will team up with NHED, a Nigerian public health and development non-profit organization, to build long-term in-country contextual expertise in public health management in Nigeria.
Vantage urges that its AI-powered solutions specifically help health organizations achieve cost and operational efficiencies, improved organizational performance, and better health outcomes.
Furthermore, by providing “next best action” workflows to empower healthcare workers at all levels with deep experience in HIV, TB, malaria, and other related diseases treatment and care.
Vantage notes that its AI-driven, data-centric, technology-enabled solutions and innovation empowers human action with the goal to enable public health systems to achieve Universal Health Coverage by 2030.
NHED on the other hand, specializes in delivering high-impact public health advocacy, governance, and primary health system interventions across the continent.
Specifically, within Nigeria, they have driven successful interventions across nutrition and primary healthcare programs.
Paul Bhuhi, Managing Director of Vantage Health Technologies said, “Together, we’ll bring new efficiencies into the Nigerian public health system, to overcome challenges in health service delivery, workforce empowerment, patient retention, data interoperability, health information management, and data-driven leadership.”
Dr. Emmanuel Sokpo, Managing Director of NHED, said that the two organizations’ combined experience, local knowledge, and relationships with the government of Nigeria.
He acknowledges that this will enable both parties to offer high-impact technical assistance, and the expertise and solutions will bring about organizational change, improved performance, and better program, population, and individual health outcomes.
Dr. Sokpo said, “We are excited to see the impact that this joint effort will make in Nigeria, not only for health administrators and caregivers but most importantly their patients, the people of Nigeria.”
Could AI really unlock the Nigeria public health puzzle?
The Global Burden of Disease report, unfortunately, notes that Nigeria has the fourth highest burden of disease in the world, yet several interventions have not changed this narrative.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) notes that the Nigerian health system is overburdened and resource-constrained resulting in poor health outcomes.
Additionally, Nigeria experiences a high prevalence of HIV, TB, and Malaria, ranking fourth worldwide in terms of HIV burden, accounting for 35% of cases in East and West Africa.
Unfortunately, Nigeria ranks sixth globally in contributing to TB cases, comprising 4% of total TB cases worldwide.
Moreover, Nigeria faces the highest malaria burden globally, with an estimated 51 million cases annually, representing approximately 30% of Africa’s total malaria burden.
To address these challenges, the partnership between NHED and Vantage plays a crucial role in providing the necessary support to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the healthcare system, its managers, and the workforce within the available resources.
Vantage Health Technologies’ success story in Nigeria
NHED notes that the need for solutions to support effective HIV treatment and care in Nigeria is urgent.
While the country has made great strides in achieving UNAIDS targets, achieving only 85% viral suppression indicates that challenges remain.
Currently, Vantage Health Technologies is working with various clients/partners within Nigeria to support large-scale HIV programs in managing their patient populations, including patient retention and treatment adherence.
One such solution is the Vantage Patient Retention Solution which has been successfully implemented within multiple programs within Nigeria.
This solution is built on a machine learning model using clinical and social data points from a de-identified dataset of patient histories.
Vantage Patient Retention Solution employs predictive analytics to identify patients at risk of missing their next appointment and in so doing drop off treatment as they will not be collecting their medication.
With the solution, the costs and complexity involved with bringing a lost patient back into treatment can be avoided by preventing loss to follow-up and the increased health risks for the patient should they become resistant to the medication when they re-engage with treatment.
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