Profile Category: 1st Challenge Winner

As a data scientist, I want to combine geographic information with open data sets to map public health resources and diseases in relation to their environment so that we can improve healthcare surveillance.

As someone who had trouble finding the right specialist for a health problem, I want to use SMS mobile technology to link health experts (doctors and specialists) to people who need care, especially in the rural areas, so that Tanzanians can connect with the health services they need quickly and easily.

As a medical doctor by training, I want to use mobile technology to increase the accessibility of information that is available in the online Health Facility Registry so that patients can enquire by SMS about the types of services offered in nearby health facilities and make decisions about the best place to go for care.

As a community activist, I want to use data to develop a Menstruation Period Management (MPM) toolkit to educate girls, parents, and teachers so that we can encourage open conversations around MPM and help them understand that menstruation period for a woman is a prestige; it’s not a curse. The goal is to eventually keep young women and girls in school by lowering absenteeism caused by MPM.

As an experienced developer, I want to use geographic information and community-generated ratings to enable health facility users to be able to find a certain service and know the quality of that service using their mobile phone. I also want to use data from the Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority (TFDA) database to enable patients to check that the drugs they receive are registered in Tanzania.

As a native of Zanzibar, I want to use open data to help my fellow citizens (and tourists) to locate the nearest hospital and pharmacy in Zanzibar in real time when they need medical assistance so that they know where to go.

As an innovator who wants to help my community, I want to use mobile technology to make data from the Health Facility Registry available through all mobile phones in both English and Swahili so that everyone can access information about health facilities in Tanzania.

As a medical doctor, I want to act as a medium between the community and the health facility authorities. I want to give the people of Tanzania a voice to share their views on the quality of health services they receive, and I want to use this data to help health governing bodies improve service quality so that people trust the health facilities and receive the best care.

As a woman and an engineer, I want to use predictive analytics and machine learning to help District Planning Officers predict the impact of education budgets on the school dropout rates among girls so that we can reduce these dropout rates and help girls get an education.