https://damu-sasa.co.ke/news/damu-sasa-joins-the-i3-africa-programme/Nairobi, Kenya; October 6th, 2022
Damu Sasa System Ltd. is one of the 30 start-ups selected across Africa for support by the Investing in Innovations Africa (i3) program through the Solina Centre for International Development and Research (SCIDAR).
We are one of the 8 Kenyan start-ups in the program, alongside Zuri Health, Clinic Pesa, The Pathology Network, Signalytic, Negus Med Ltd, Xetova, and Viebeg.
We feel greatly honored by this recognition whose support will enable us to further strengthen existing technical capabilities, extend market reach, and grow; all in support of our established mission of leveraging technology to positively impact people’s lives through effective healthcare delivery.
The i3 support will go a long way in not only enabling us to build internal capacity (technical and non-technical) but also have a wider reach across Kenya and the region.
We believe that technology has a substantial role to play in the effective delivery of services across sectors, more so in the healthcare sector. Presently, across Africa and the world, there are limitations in real-time information sharing amongst frontline healthcare workers, which hinders the achievement of more positive patient treatment outcomes. While technology alone cannot solve all the known challenges in healthcare, it can make processes more efficient and effective. This can substantially ease the pressure on the already overburdened healthcare ecosystem.
Since its inception, the Damu Sasa technology platform, primarily built to aid in the effective management of blood services value chains, has seen a substantial positive impact on the lives of patients in need of blood. Many of these are maternal cases where the lives of both mother and child could be at risk based on our data which suggests that about 60% of all blood transfused in Kenya goes to maternal cases.
On the other hand, we are glad that blood donors continue to respond positively toward meeting the need for blood. This happens especially in cases where donors feel duly engaged in the process, based on the observed use of our Damu Sasa mobile application available on the Play Store.
We further note that upward of 175 facilities across Kenya have adopted the Damu Sasa technology platform for their blood services management. They have also been a great source of invaluable input on enhancing the technology’s capabilities. This collaborative approach continually challenges us to make improvements to the platform; changes that are crucial in meeting patient care and hence saving lives.
To date, our journey of growth has benefited from the support and mentorship of a number of stakeholders, including Villgro Africa, Amref Health Africa, ICChange, AUDA-NEPAD, UNFPA-Kenya, and the Kenya Red Cross Society, among many others. We have committed ourselves to ongoing learning from their experiences and that of the many stakeholders we continually interact with.
Effective healthcare delivery in Kenya, and Africa in general, remains a big challenge for governments, the private sector, and non-government organizations. We hope that all players will continually invest in continuous improvement towards meeting the population’s healthcare needs. A partial solution lies in the systematic adoption and use of technology that can lead to impactful outcomes. Funding of the kind we have received from i3, $50,000, is a practical example and partial means of tackling the problem.
It is our hope that other stakeholders will rise to the occasion in not only supporting initiatives like ours, but also broadening the support to reach more start-ups in the space. With such focus, effort, and time, the collective healthcare burden will lighten.
