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12 Mobile Apps That Are Saving Lives In Africa

12 Mobile Apps That Are Saving Lives In Africa

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Technology has an important role to play in African daily life, and in fact, some mobile apps that have been created contribute to saving lives.

Mobile apps are easily accessible, often free or cost-effective, and can be used on the go.

Whether helping to enhance healthcare, assist with security or summon law enforcement, the mobile apps on this list have been designed specifically to deal with challenges and assist African communities with crucial elements of their lives.

Here are 12 mobile apps that are saving lives in Africa.

Sources: CNBCAfrica, Newsdeeply, IBTimesITNewsAfrica, CBC.

Medicapt is helping to fight violence against women in DR Congo. Photo - Medicapt
Medicapt is helping to fight violence against women in DR Congo. Photo – Medicapt

Medicapt

This app helps doctors to document evidence of sexual violence in the DR Congo, recording medical examination results digitally along with photos of injuries, which can be sent to police or lawyers as necessary, potential saving lives in the process.

Pregnant women receive text messages from Toto Health to help them safely through their pregnancy. Photo - ParentsMagazine
Pregnant women receive text messages from Toto Health to help them safely through their pregnancy. Photo – ParentsMagazine

Toto Health

Kenya-based mobile app Toto Health assists in monitoring the health of pregnant women, with the app sending text messages to the mother-to-be that are specifically tailored to various stages of the pregnancy. Potentially life-saving advice is consistently sent to the women who use the app.

The Hello Doctor app gives users access to health care advice. Photo: mtnblog.co.za

Hello Doctor

Available in 10 African countries, Hello Doctor provides healthcare information that is updated daily, while providing access to healthcare advice via doctors who answer questions posed to them by users of the mobile application.

Helicopter transport can be invaluable during medical emergencies. Photo:dcnewsroom.blogspot.com

Helivac

In the event of a medical emergency in South Africa, Helivac Helicopter Service will be able to respond and urgently transport injured people to the most suitable medical facility. Part of the service includes a mobile app that sends GPS coordinates through to the medical call centre via a panic button functionality, prompting immediate response to a specific location.

Police in Pretoria have Namola tech in their vehicles to respond to app interactions. Photo - Metrosmag
Police in Pretoria have Namola tech in their vehicles to respond to app interactions. Photo – Metrosmag

Namola

Known as the ‘Uber for Security’, Namola is a South African mobile app that is being piloted and tested in the Gauteng area, with citizens able to alert police to criminal activity at the touch of a button, at which point the closest police vehicle to the scene responds.

Life saving apps in Africa help women to have safe pregnancies. Photo - Mujer Magazine
Life saving apps in Africa help women to have safe pregnancies. Photo – Mujer Magazine

Safe Delivery App

A mobile health project that began in Ethiopia provides any health worker with smartphone access to the information they need to deal with emergencies during childbirth, helping midwives to save countless lives.

VetAfrica App to Boost Livestock Farmers’ Productivity (Image: scoop.it)

VetAfrica Mobile

Cojengo is Africa’s first integrated livestock diagnosis and disease surveillance platform, and it provides the VetAfrica Mobile app, with assists users in diagnosing, collecting data and educating others about livestock disease, which can save human lives, not to mention those of the animals.

MOST helps to prepare surgeons for surgery. Photo: Wikipedia.org

MOST

MOST, or mobile optimized skill training, is a mobile app that prepares surgeons to work on traumatic brain and spine injuries. Developed in Canada for specific use in Africa, the app is designed to simulate a real patient through avatars that healthcare workers can watch in order to deal with medical situations in the real world.

Counterfeit medicine is a problem that can be solved through MPedigree. Photo: Thinkstock

MPedigree

The presence of counterfeit medicines continues to hurt people throughout the world, while negatively affecting economies at the same time. This issue is also present in Africa, but an platform called MPedigree is aiming to tackle it. Patients in Ghana can verify, for free, if their medicines are fake, by inputting codes marked on the medicine packet to a central database, which then tells the user if the medicine is legitimate.

Four young Ugandans are making an impact against malaria. Photo: matibabu.blog.com

In an effort to combat malaria, Code8, a team of four young Ugandans, created Matibabu, a smartphone app that helps to diagnose malaria without the need of a blood sample. Using a custom-made matiscope with a red LED and a light sensor, it can analyze the red blood cells, with the results viewed via a smartphone to give users with their malaria status in the shortest amount of time.

Vula Eye Health app - appoftheyear.co.za
Vula Health app offers feedback on various specialities – appoftheyear.co.za

Vula

This revolutionary app provides South African users with access to specialist doctors, which is incredibly useful with regards to rural areas where specialists are not often available. By uploading images and information via the app, the user receives feedback from specialists, with eight medical specialities currently on offer.

CrashDetech

This app is one that is installed and forgotten about, until it saves a life. Using smart drive-detection technology the South African app auto-detects serious car crashes and alerts the CrashDetech emergency contact centre of the phone’s location, allowing it to dispatch the nearest emergency medical services with the individual’s specific medical information, potentially saving lives.