Development of a platform to put patients in contact with healthcare professionals/establishments
Main beneficiary countries:Congo - Kinshasa - Gabon - Congo - Brazzaville - Cameroon
WapiMED SARL
WapiMED SARL is a Congolese start-up (DR Congo) founded in April 2016 and based in Kinshasa. The start-up was founded by two Congolese entrepreneurs: José Zefu Kimpalou and Steve Nkashama. As it was being founded, WapiMED SARL released the WapiMED web application, the first ever location directory dedicated entirely to healthcare professionals in the DRC. In late 2016, two Congolese developers, Urey Mutuale and Norby Baruani, joined the start-up to accelerate the development of additional solutions and services for the WapiMED web app, in an effort to form a multi-service platform dedicated to e-health.
Sector: Industrial: Startups, enterprises, etc.
Country of origin: Congo - Kinshasa
Healthcare themes targeted
Stage of development:
Area where initiative is utilised
Initiative start date
Financing method
Economic model(s)
The idea behind WapiMED was make healthcare professionals more accessible to communities in Sub-Saharan Africa through new ICT and greater mobile internet coverage in a region subject to “medical desertification” (not enough healthcare staff to deliver sufficient care to local communities).
The added value of the solution is as follows: • Find the nearest healthcare professionals in just a few click. • Make an appointment. • Find out how to get to the professional’s address using GPS. • Gain an insight into what other patients think of the healthcare professional. • Find additional information that may inform users’ choices (opening times, specialisms treated, costs, etc.).
To date, competition is limited to basic directories that do not show how far away a doctor, hospital, of pharmacy is, and do not offer route suggestions for getting there or any additional information.
La concurrence à ce jour se limite à des annuaires basiques qui ne permettent pas déterminer la distance par rapport à un médecin, un hôpital ou une pharmacie, ne proposent pas l’itinéraire ou d’informations complémentaires.
The initial offering, WapiMED, is made up of a cross-platform web app (computer, tablet, smartphone) that combined the following intuitive features: 1. GPS location of the user and directory of healthcare professionals/establishments, sorted by distance from the user’s position. 2. Various advanced filter (selection) criteria so that user’s can quickly find what they need (specialism, specific location, search radius, etc.). 3. Click-To-Call feature to make it easier to get in touch. 4. Useful information (alternative phone numbers, visiting hours, specialisms treated, costs, etc.) when available. 5. Healthcare professional rating system (governed by our terms and conditions). 6. Automatic route suggestion (Google Maps API) from user location.
- Bringing patients and healthcare professionals/establishments into contact
28000 Number of beneficiaries since launch
3100 Number of users per Month
No
No
No
No
eHEALTH
How does one compete for the Observatory Awards ?
The project sponsors can apply to compete for the Observatory Awards: http://www.odess.io/suggest-an-initiative.html
An expert panel will study the submitted projects and winners will be invited to the Annual Conference on July 2019, at the Fondation Pierre Fabre’s headquarters (Lavaur, France), to accept their prize.
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