GSK has matched its strategic technology partner, Cognizant, with charity Amref Health Africa to build an integrated digital training and reporting tool for health workers to better serve local
Cognizant announced today that it is teaming up with GSK to develop a digital and integrated training and reporting system for non-governmental organisation (NGO) Amref Health Africa, a leading Nairobi-based health charity that works with communities in 35 African countries to secure the right to health and break the cycle of poverty. The new, user-friendly digital system will integrate three separate reporting tools and their functionalities into one platform. The new platform will enable better planning, resource allocation, identification of training needs, and, ultimately, patient outcomes by aggregating data from the existing tools and helping users generate useful insights from it.
The African continent is experiencing an acute shortage of health workers: a gap which has only been widened by the COVID-19 pandemic. There is an urgent need for many African countries to train more health workers to help improve the health, wellbeing and life expectancy of their populations. The project, jointly funded by GSK and Cognizant, will allow Amref to:
- Enhance its health worker training programmes through better visibility of training requirements and, consequently, improve the quality of the service health workers provide
- Produce meaningful, correlated reports to manage specific areas: training, service delivery, and reporting
- Improve patient outcomes, in particular for women
- Women will be able to better address their own healthcare needs and support those of their family as well as their nutritional wellbeing through the targeted support of volunteers.
In addition, the project will allow regional Ministries of Health (MoH) to deploy Amref-trained health workers more efficiently where needed, which enables the local MoH to focus on and plan broader, federal projects.
“We’re committed to helping strengthen health systems in lower-income countries and we know how critical health workers are to achieving that,” said Fiona Smith-Laittan, Head of Global Health Strategy and Operations, GSK. “We’ve partnered with Amref Health Africa for many years and saw an opportunity to bring Cognizant into the partnership to leverage its digital engineering know-how to help Amref better support health workers.”
“Our social purpose is very much aligned to that of GSK and Amref Health Africa. At Cognizant, we want to improve everyday life, using the strength and expertise of a large, globally spread workforce, skilled in innovative technologies, to develop a digital solution for a charity that supports the wellbeing of communities in highly deprived areas,” said Rob Walker, Managing Director, UK&I, Cognizant. “I am proud that our digital engineering and data analytics expertise and our efforts to integrate legacy reporting tools into a single, digital platform, will help improve access to healthcare, creating stronger, healthier and more inclusive communities in Africa. We look forward to working closely with GSK and Amref!”
“Our mission is to create lasting health change in Africa by sustainably strengthening health systems and improving access to vital care and services, especially for the most marginalised people and communities – and we are excited to have the support of GSK and Cognizant to implement more effective and impactful public health programmes,” says Diana Mukami, Head of Programmes and Digital Learning Director at Amref Health Africa’s Institute of Capacity Development. “We are looking forward to seeing the results of this project by bringing healthcare to those areas and people who need it the most – and fast.”
About GSK
GSK is a science-led global healthcare company. For further information please visit https://www.gsk.com/en-gb/about-us/
About Amref Health Africa
Amref Health Africa is Africa’s leading health charity. Headquartered in Nairobi, we partner with communities in 35 countries to sustainably strengthen health systems and improve access to life-saving care. Our belief that health is a human right underpins everything we do. Since March 2020, we have been at the forefront of the COVID-19 response in East, West, and Southern Africa.
Amref Health Africa UK (Amref UK) is one of a dozen offices in Europe and North America that are primarily responsible for raising the organisation’s profile, brokering partnerships, and mobilising funds to support our programmes in Africa.
About Cognizant
Cognizant (Nasdaq: CTSH) engineers modern businesses. We help our clients modernize technology, reimagine processes and transform experiences so they can stay ahead in our fast-changing world. Together, we’re improving everyday life. See how at www.cognizant.com or @cognizant.
