BY MUNYARADZI BLESSING DOMA
The country’s digital health strategy has scored a major milestone with the OneImpact Zimbabwe Community-led Monitoring mobile application which provides users with information on TB, as well as providing a feedback platform on accessing services.
The application is currently available on Play Store and App Store, while plans are being made to have it on feature phones, as the country is pushing its fight to eliminate TB by 2030.
Speaking on the sidelines of a recent OneImpact Zimbabwe CLM capacity building workshop, Peter Dube, Jointed Hands Welfare Organisation, Programmes Manager, said this digital innovation will go a long way in spreading information on TB.
“Apart from spreading information on TB, this will also allay fears of stigma and discrimination among people that are affected by TB.
“It actually empowers those people affected by TB, but not only TB but the other diseases as well, so that they can claim their rights, access health, support services and report and eliminate TB stigma and discrimination.
“So that’s generally what the OneImpact Zimbabwe digital application is all about. So for Zimbabwe, we (JHWO) then came together with the Ministry of Health and Child Care, ICT department and decided to be very specific with our own application and we called it, the OneImpact Zimbabwe Community-led Monitoring application.
“The main advantage of this application is that it can be accessed at any corner of the country, it is not a heavy application on mobile phones and we are currently working on making sure that it can actually then be uploaded on those phones which are not smart phones.
“The idea is that we want everyone to at least have information on TB and everyone to use that information across the country on TB.
“So you will notice that when you get into the application itself, it has a number of modules, the Get to know your rights module, for instance right to health, right to life, and other rights,” said Dube.
He added that the application gives users information about TB itself, in a simplified version.
“There is a module on Get Connected, for instance you want to be connected to other people who have lived experiences on TB, you can get into that module, there is the Get Access module, where you want to know the facilities that are closest to you, where you will be.
“It (application) has a google map, which will show you the facilities which will be closest where you will be, not only in this country but even outside, so it can do that for you and that is another good thing about it.
“And of course, the other module that is critical is the module where you are Reporting an issue. Maybe you are failing to access services because there is something that is happening at that particular facility.
“So you want then to raise this as an alarm to say I’m failing to get my services from this particular facility because either it’s attitude of the healthcare stuff there or it’s because that facility doesn’t have the TB medicines that you require or there are no testing equipment at that facility.
“Because we are saying TB is a curable disease and if you go to the nearest facility, you should get assistance; you should be put on treatment if you have it, so if all these things are not happening at a facility, then you can report that as an issue so that it can be addressed by the authorities.
“Because they (authorities) may not know that you are failing to access services because there is a barrier that’s blocking you.
“So OneImpact application is one way of reporting that issue so that it is addressed,” added Dube.
Dube also revealed that from time to time, they run surveys on the application so as to assess whether or not people are getting quality services across the country.
He also revealed that the application was also capable of being used for other disease as this is one of the ways to improve the digital health strategy.
“The application has room for hanging other diseases as well not just TB. You can have HIV there, you can have malaria there, we do have a survey on multiple myeloma, one kind of cancer that’s also affecting elderly people.
“So we are also thinking of including these on the application because it’s a user friendly application and many people like it because of the way it is set up, so we are currently just giving people information on TB because of the magnitude of TB in the country.”
Ronald Rugoyi, Stop TB Partnership Zimbabwe Chairperson, echoed similar sentiments saying, “the OneImpact CLM platform is one of the CLM accountability for TB tools that help collect feedback on barriers faced by people affected by TB and engage them to know their rights and to report the barriers that prevent them from being diagnosed, treated, and cared for.
“It is therefore important for communities affected by TB, civil society organizations working with communities and the private sector to familiarize themselves with the OneImpact CLM platform.
“As the Stop TB Partnership Zimbabwe (STPZ) carries out its mandate and coordinates partner multisectoral response to ending TB, training of TB partners on OneImpact CLM is vital.
“It is against this background, that the STPZ will support training of TB partners and stakeholders on the OneImpact CLM platform,” said Rugoyi.
