ZIMBABWE – Ubuntu Clinics has partnered local blockchain startup FlexID to leverage FlexID’s Self Sovereign Identity platform to the healthcare industry for the benefit of millions of Africans.
FlexID is a Zimbabwean founded firm with operations in Africa that provides digital identity solutions through its platform and wallet for the issuance, storage and sharing of verified digital identity credentials.
Its solution replaces paper-based physical credentials where there is no trusted identity infrastructure with easy access to verified credentials that enables individuals to get faster access to a wide range of healthcare services.
Under the partnership, FlexID Technologies will harness the power of technology in the healthcare sector to reduce healthcare costs and improve patient outcomes.
The partnership will use FlexID Technologies’ blockchain to ensure digital identity solution for patients, community health workers, doctors, nurses and any other health service provider across Africa.
The collaboration will effectively take advantage of individual’s digital identity to bring forth instant and secure authentication of patient data and protection of patients against the potential for medical identity theft.
It will also reduce operating expenses and related administration costs at the healthcare facilities and bring a positive experience for user and medical professionals.
Moreover, the FlexID company seeks to address the lack of access to healthcare facilities in Sub-Saharan Africa which results to extremely high mortality rates.
Ubuntu Clinics Founder Munyaradzi Chakonda observed that the challenge of providing accessible health service has taken high priority in the global policy debates and Zimbabwe is not an exception to the anomaly and challenge.
One in five children born in Africa today dies before the age of five, African women face more than a hundred times the risk of maternal mortality than women in the developed world while the average life expectancy is only a mere 51 years.
“Ubuntu Clinics carried out an extensive healthcare drive between 2021 and 2022 in its pilot phase to cover nearly 15 000 households & over 50 000 patients in which patients had their own digital identities linked to their health records created on the FlexID platform,” noted Munyaradzi.
Munyaradzi Chakonda further revealed that the health startup carried out a baseline survey whose findings will be used to inform the design of a digital health solution that can mitigate the risks involved due to a lack of access to healthcare facilities.
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