Vodacom has unveiled several mHealth products in collaboration with technology firm Mezzanine Ware.
The service will be supported by a centralised mobile/cloud environment by Mezzanine Ware and assists health workers in capturing data from patients using mobile devices.
“This is done through secure, real-time data collection, information processing, management and reporting. What’s more, all mHealth services can be deployed by 3rd party service providers,” Vodacom said.
The services launched include Vodacom Mezzanine Workforce Management, which will help in managing mobile workforce such as health workers.Vodacom Mezzanine Asset Management will be used to monitor drug stocks easily using mobile phones.
Vodacom Mezzanine Customer Management will enable the storage and management of clients’ information and files.
“This means that home and community based care services in the primary health care system will be able to manage patient information with real-time, accurate reporting to health departments, corporate employers or funding parties,” Vodacom said.
Vodacom Mezzanine Assessment will assist in capturing transactions using time-stamp, GPS Positioning and the camera of the phone. This will be done in real time.
“This partnership enables the latest mobile health services and solutions to be delivered to any part of the African continent. We already have a dozen live commercial deployments, delivering a cross section of our solutions to the benefit of citizens,” said Jaques De Vos, Mezzanine Ware’s managing director.
“A stable, robust and wide ranging GSM network is essential to the success of any mobile health solution. While we are network agnostic, locally our partnership with Vodacom enables health providers to cost-effectively manage people, products and services over a distributed area utilizing secure data hosting and innovative mobile technology.”
An HIV-prevention initiative for young people, loveLife, has recorded successes using Mezzanine Ware’s mobile data capturing system. The organisation has 1,250 field workers who use the system who say they are able to reach 200,000 people monthly.