Next-Generation Digital Learning Tools for Community Health WorkersCopy Link

INFORMATION SESSION/Q&A SESSION ON THURSDAY 7TH MARCH - RECORDING AND SLIDES ARE HERE

**APPLICATION DEADLINE EXTENSION TO 5TH APRIL 2024**

AMREF Health Africa is looking to transform its digital learning and data collection tools for community health workers, using next-generation technologies to create a more user-friendly and intuitive system. Their goal is to improve responsiveness, functional optimization, and performance measurement of new and existing tools, including interactive voice response (IVR) and short message service (SMS), and smartphone usage, all of which cause daily problems. Such problems include:

• Inability to use in multiple languages
• Slow response times to fix user issues
• Limited functionality for users living with disabilities
• In-house capabilities to make code changes is slowed down
• Lack of connectivity problems
• Integration with multiple platforms
• Limited harnessing of AI benefits
• Limits to 2-way communication

AMREF would like to enhance their existing learning tools via additional or alternative functionality. They also require solutions to interface with their existing data collection platform. They would like to explore gamification, video and embedded visual aids to attract younger users.

Particular use cases will be methods of early disease detection/disease surveillance and onboarding and monitoring of new clients in remote areas.

Solutions can engage with any suitable touchpoint (software, device, infrastructure, etc.) and are invited from, but not limited to, the following sectors:

• Digital
• Telecoms
• AI
• Data
• Creative
• Design
• Sensors
• Imaging

AMREF Background

Amref Health Africa was founded in 1957 (as African Medical and Research Foundation) to deliver mobile health services and to provide mission hospitals with surgical support. It later moved towards community-based health care (CBHC) and training community health workers to deliver primary health care.

During the 1980s, greater emphasis was given to strengthening health systems and staff development, with special attention to health needs identified by communities themselves. AMREF established a unique year-long training course in community health.

AMREF’s strategy focuses on finding ways to link health services to the people that need them by focusing more on people, and less on diseases – making responses tailor-made to specific community needs.
AMREF’s vision is creating lasting health change in Africa. "Their goal is to transform the health of African communities by investing in women and young people as agents of change."

Community Health Workers

CHEWs (Community Health Extension Workers) supervise data collection at the household level for county. They recruit and manage CHPs (Community Health Promoters) who go to households to collect data and refer to the public health facility, using two key tools:

• Learning platform (details below)
• Data collection platform (details below)

Every CHP is located within a community unit and given several people to engage – usually 100 houses or families. CHPs are arranged into groups of 10 – known to each other and meeting weekly and staying in touch using messaging services.

CHPs conduct weekly household visits, often on weekends, serving as village doctors and focusing on health promotion. They provide primary health care services at community level, monitoring what is happening in the village and reporting any issues or outbreaks. 

CHPs oversee local health services, building capacity to provide basic care. They are screening for diabetes, hypertension, malaria, etc. via testing kits. When they feel they can’t handle a case, they refer the patient to a local healthcare facility. The learning platform provides them with basic knowledge on healthcare topics, and data collection speeds up patient referrals.

CHPs were originally trained by NGOs and the Ministry of Health and are now recognized as important actors and players for health promotion.

AMREF provides phones (in some instances) to support CHPs plus data bundles depending on circumstances. These phones are mostly entry level smartphones.

AMREF is currently using 2 key tools:

Learning Platform

AMREF’s mobile learning solution for training community health care workers employs an appropriate mobile learning approach to train and empower health workers. They can learn at their own pace while in the community, providing both interpersonal and community aspects of learning.

The platform provides access to timely and appropriate training by reaching learners on any smart or basic device. It measures learner’s progress and provides performance reports; delivers health content; allows learners to interact through group chat; and can provide limited multi-lingual content.

The platform is currently licenced from a third party, thus the AMREF team has limited flexibility and is reliant on external support. 

The platform’s usage is limited due to language functionality: it is currently only available in English and Swahili and has previously been customized into Amharic and Chichewa for specific projects. They would like to localise the service for multiple countries, requiring the expansion of their internal abilities. Solutions may take the form of additions to, or alternative to, the existing learning platform. 

Text and audio interactions for learners include:

• SMS – they can receive and respond
• Peer learning – to chat among themselves
• IVR – instant voice recordings

The specific challenges AMREF is trying to solve for their mobile learning solution include additional language ability, information comprehension, flexibility to user needs, harnessing AI benefits and diverse integrations. 

Data Collection Platform

This proprietary toolkit incorporates a mobile application for capturing data from the household level and transmitting it online to a web-based database. Through this platform, community health promoters have been able to cut the turn-around time for transmitting data from several weeks to a few minutes. 

CHPs collect data on mobile devices (any network) during their regular household visits and submit this data, from where healthcare teams can review the data for decision making and planning purposes. CHPs ask household questions using a short form to guide data collection.

Any learning solution must be able to interface with the data collection platform. AMREF are seeking to develop an integrated, user-friendly and intuitive system that can be scaled across operational territories. 

Further Considerations

AMREF operates physically in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Burkina Faso, Guinea (Conakry), Zambia and Senegal, with programmatic presence in 35 countries overall. 

• Language: Kenya and Tanzania are the most successful programmes due to beneficial language factors. Currently tools cannot be deployed in West Africa as French is required. Initial language tests (eg: Amharic) cannot scale due to licensing and development costs.
• Accessibility: There is a support feature problem, with no capability for pop-up notifications. Two-way functionality (ie: IVR reception and transmission) is desirable, especially to support users with sensory challenges.
• Remote Service: Operating in remote areas presents connection challenges. Applicants should consider the pros and cons of using different smartphone networks (3G, 4G, 5G)
• Reliability: Inaccessibility of areas due to no roads, or terrain such as mountains and forests, hence an offline first approach is required. Consider phone charging issues and power interruptions. Minimise learning workflows fails due to text messaging and IVR fails.
• Usability: Solutions should build on existing data (if suitable) plus support additional collection, analysis, and insights. The transformed tools must be engaging and effective for learners, and efficient and scalable for AMREF. 
• Independent: AMREF staff should be able to make regular changes and updates directly without the need to contact third party support.
• Priority Areas: Consider how data can be collected: initial priority areas include heart, stroke and cancer detection. The solution should layer in learning tools able to support IVR, SMS and other smartphone functionality.
• AMREF is currently using these tools to fulfill its training and data collection needs: Jibu, Leap and M-Jali

Looking Ahead

Applicants should look at video and gamification for future generations. CHPs are perceived as people to be trusted and are looked up to within their communities, tending to have a certain age profile. The younger generation needs excitement to take classes – so we need innovative ways to keep them engaged. Gamification also allows better understanding of learner preferences.

Your Application

Applicants should include relevant details as attachments, such as:

• Process diagrams
• Technical data
• Business model
• Usage metrics

AMREF is seeking innovative ideas that can be tailored for their needs and tested collaboratively (not just a straight product or service purchase). The key ask is for innovative ways to overcome current challenges, and enhance AMREF’s delivery of learning tools, and their daily use by Community Health Workers. This can be via any suitable touchpoint (software, device, infrastructure, etc.)

• Up to GBP 25,000 seed funding (Subject to T&C)
• Opportunity to pitch your solution to AMREF
• Collaboration/partnership with AMREF
• Technical support from AMREF team
• Sector expertise from Innovate UK
• Support in the development of a prototype or pilot
• Invitation to attend or present at Innovate UK events
• Investor introductions (if investment is required)
• Application support for any Innovate UK or similar competitions that are relevant.

The identified solution must/should address the following:

• Solution must integrate with the learning and data collection platforms
• Solutions must be downloadable via online platforms
• Solutions must be low cost for designated users (between $7-$15 per user per month)
• Solutions should be available via personal mobile phones, though other platforms and devices will be considered also.
• As a minimum, solutions should be viable with Android devices and a basic version for feature phones
• Solutions benefitting users (Community Health Workers and the community they serve) with physical, mental and social obstacles are desirable

• Solution may be integrated with AMREF’s existing systems or may operate as separate systems alongside it.
• Please detail any new infrastructure requirements for your solution
• Solution must be applicable in modular format, to scale progressively
• Solution should be able to work across a wide range of devices
• Solution should not require heavy mobile data usage
• Solutions must operate securely with data privacy aligned with existing AMREF policies
• Technological maturity: preference for late-stage solutions (TRL 7+) that have passed proof of concept stage, are in pilot, ready to commercialise or commercialised. However lower TRL ideas will also be considered. 

• The solution should be viable for online and offline usage (for relevant functions)
• The solution should be available for intermittent and remote usage
• 24/7 operation to cover all African time zones

• 12 Feb 2024 – Competition launch
• 07 Mar 2024 – Information session/Q&A (TBC)
• 05 Apr 2024 – Deadline for applications
• Apr 2024 – Selection and notification of finalists
• May 2024 – Pitch day & selection of winner
• Jun 2024 – Collaboration discussions
• Jul 2024 – Pilot programme activated

• The solution’s operation should aim to be cost-effective in terms of ROI
• Winning solution providers will become long-term partners, gaining access to AMREF data (within GDPR regulations)
• Winning solutions will be integrated into learning and data collection processes, with opportunity to scale
• Innovative funding models will be considered if not off-putting to users

Proposed solutions may not be viable if they are:

• Unable to interface with the learning and data collection platforms
• Unable to be accessed via many different devices
• Lacking online and offline capability
• Unable to service customers with limited data packages
• Unable to provide intermittent and remote functionality

Entrants to this competition must be:

• Established businesses, start-ups, SMEs or individual entrepreneurs
• Africa-based entrants, UK-based entrants and those from RoW are invited to apply

Due Diligence requirements for seed funding:

• UK applicants must ensure that receiving the £25k seed funding will not exceed the £315,000* state aid threshold under UK Minimal Financial Assistance regulations over the current and last 2 fiscal years [or *200,000 euros for applicants affected by EC de minimis regulations]
• Further information will be required later relating to company policies, financial history and recent grant funding received.

Applications will be assessed on:

• Relevance to the topic
• Innovative nature of the subject
• Coherence of the proposed business model
• Feasibility/ economic viability
• Development potential
• Maturity of project/solution
• Ability to launch project quickly/ease of implementation
• Price/quality ratio
• Suitability for the African Market

AMREF is seeking innovative ideas that can be tailored for their needs and tested collaboratively (not just a straight product purchase). The key ask is for innovative ways to overcome the current challenges to AMREF’s learning and data collection requirements, and their daily use by Community Health Workers. This can be via any suitable touchpoint (software, device, infrastructure, etc.)

• Existing background IP associated with a potential solution will remain with Solution Provider(s). Where any new IP generation is envisaged, it will be subject to the mutual IP agreement of the Solution Provider(s) and Innovation Challenger.
• Any commercial deployment of a transferred solution or newly developed solution, through licensing, joint venture, partnership or direct investment, will be subject to the commercial agreement between the Solution Provider(s) and Innovation Challenger.
• Where necessary, a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) may be signed to uphold confidentiality in the engagement between the Solution Provider(s) and Innovation Challenger. (This would be expected to be after company selection. It is suggested that details of IP not be disclosed initially. Focus on the outcomes of the technology proposed).
• Innovate UK KTN does not take any share of IP ownership or enter into commercial ventures through the iX programme.

• The application form for this challenge will require applicants to provide company information and answer 3 questions - Idea Summary, Technology Readiness and Intellectual Property – each with a limit of 300 words.
• Optionally, supporting documents can be attached to the application. We recommend that supporting documents are limited to those which are directly relevant to the application. Please note that applications with no supporting document will not receive any penalty in assessment. Supporting documents which the Assessment Panel deems to be superfluous may be disregarded. Examples of useful additional documents include product images or short specification sheets, slide decks detailing the solution and/or company background, or solution case studies.
• We recommend that you complete the application form in Google Chrome as other browsers may have compatibility issues. The application form does not need to be completed in one session and can be saved for future edits. Please ensure that you toggle “Stage Complete” for each section before submission. Note that you will no longer be able to edit your application once you have clicked “Submit Idea” at the bottom of the Summary page.