Vula Mobile

A medical referral app to improve the care of patients in rural, remote and underserved areas

Project start date : 01/08/2015

Last updated : 16/03/2022

Beneficiary country : South Africa

Healthcare themes targeted

  • Primary healthcare
  • HIV/AIDS
  • Chronic diseases
  • Cardiovascular illnesses
  • Cancer
  • Dermatology
  • Ophthalmology
  • Emergency services
  • Other

Fields of application

  • Health professional training
  • Telemedicine (remote diagnosis and consultations)
  • Patient monitoring and medical data

Stage of development

  • Routine project/operational

Financing method

  • Public (grant/subsidies, call for proposals/call for tender, etc.)
  • Private (private investors, crowdfunding, philanthropy, etc.)
  • Government agency (USAID, etc.)

Area where the project is utilised

  • National (in one country only)

Economic model(s)

  • Revenue generated by the beneficiaries/healthcare facilities
  • Other (please specify)

Target audience

  • Healthcare professionals and structures (hospitals, healthcare centres/clinics, health networks)

Project objectives

  • Decreased mortality
  • Decreased morbidity
  • Reduced suffering
  • Improved treatment

Materials used

  • Smartphone
  • Computer

Technologies used

  • Mobile telecommunications (without data connection)
  • Internet
  • Geolocation
  • Mobile app (Android, iOS, Windows Phone, HTML5, etc.)

Offline use

Yes

Open source

No

Open data

No

Independent evaluation

Yes, auto-evaluated or evaluated by a related organization

About the sponsor

Vula Mobile

Sector : Healthcare (professionals and structures)

Country of origin : South Africa

Contact : Sponsor website Project website

Partners

  • Tertiary level Departments of Health: we work with the individual specialist departments that use Vula. eg the Orthopaedic Department at Tygerberg Hospital. This is a public hospital linked to Stellenbosch University.

    Healthcare (professionals and structures)

  • Secondary level Department of Health: we work with the individual specialist departments that use Vula. eg the Ophthalmology Department at Kimberly Hospital. This is a public hospital in the rural Northern Cape of South Africa

    Healthcare (professionals and structures)

  • Stellenbosch University. One research study pending publication and another undergoing ethics review.

    Academic entities (Universities, research laboratories, etc)

  • William Mapham

    Healthcare (professionals and structures)