US Ambassador lauds health entrepreneurs
U.S Ambassador Scott Delisi has commended health entrepreneurs and innovators who showcased their products and services for committing their time and lives to providing solutions to health challenges like maternal health, first aid for the injured, access to medical facilities and managing communic
By Michael Kanaabi
U.S Ambassador Scott Delisi has commended health entrepreneurs and innovators who showcased their products and services for committing their time and lives to providing solutions to health challenges like maternal health, first aid for the injured, access to medical facilities and managing communicable diseases with in communities.
“There is nothing more exciting than seeing intractable problems yield to the energy and vision of intellectual partnerships” Delisi said.
He was speaking at the health entrepreneurs and innovators fair at Fairway Hotel in Kampala.
Delisi gave out awards to some of the outstanding innovators from all across the East African region. The ‘Excellence in Grassroots Health Outreach’ award went to Service Yezu Mwiza a Burundi based organization whose mission is to promote Health in Burundi through mobile outreaches, community health workers and group based models.
The second award of the evening went to Mother Health International which operates in Uganda and it won the award for ‘Bottom Up Innovation for Health’ through it’s very innovative colour coded bracelet called the Heart String that allows birth attendants who cannot read, write or count to monitor fetal heart tones and rates.
The US Ambassador speaking at the fair
Using a sand timer, birth attendants listen to the fetal heart rate, pressing a bead each time they hear a heartbeat and when the sand timer is emptied the birth attendant observes where she has landed on the coloured heart string. White indicates a depressed heart rate, green a normal one and red a high heart rate.
With resources stretched thin both on the side of the donors and recipient countries, the only way forward regarding improving health service provision especially in rural and impoverished communities requires, more innovations like those, Ambassador Delisi noted.
The annual amount of money spent on health programs a year by US government agencies in Uganda is over $428 million (1.1 trillion) which Delisi pledged will continue to be provided and also pledged an extra $33 million for the fight against malaria next year.
This event was put together by the Segal Family Foundation a leading funder, facilitator of health starts ups across the region, entrepreneur incubator, Unreasonable East Africa and the Once Acre fund. The fair was attended by hundreds of health innovators from as far as Mali, DR Congo and all across East Africa.