the image generated by OpenAI, shows a mother is distress as her child is experiencing some seizures
BY MUNYARADZI BLESSING DOMA
On October 16, 2012, Chikondi and her husband Amon welcomed their first child Itai.
Chikondi was so happy that her baby had been born weighing 3,5kgs, something that she always bragged to anyone who dared to ask her.
Despite his huge built, Itai was very active, always running around.
But when Itai was 5 years old, Chikondi started noticing that the boy was no longer as active as he used to.
Many a times Chikondi would find Itai sitting all alone, whilst his playmates enjoyed.
One day Chikondi who was a teacher in the same neighbourhood of Mbare, was alerted by a call from her domestic worker, that her child had a high fever.
And not only that, but he had also started having some convulsions.
Chikondi had to ask her Headmistress for time to rush home and attend to her sick child.
“I thank God that my Headmistress was so understanding and she allowed me to go and attend to my child.
“When I got home, I found my domestic worker outside our gate and I could not help but imagine the worst.
“I rushed into the house, to find Itai lying on the floor having convulsions. For a moment, I was confused on what I could do.
“Then I called a local taxi as we drove to a nearby clinic,” narrated Chikondi at her Mbare residence.
She further narrated how Itai was treated and they were discharged same day and they hoped the worst was over.
It took some weeks later that Itai also experienced the same convulsions.
When Itai experienced the convulsions for the third time in a month, he was playing with his friends outside their yard.
Chikondi heard loud screams from her boy’s friends, and she rushed to see her child experiencing seizures, whilst frothing.
This time around Chikondi rushed to a local hospital, where after some tests, she was advised that her child had epilepsy, pfari/tsviyo (Shona) or izanthuthwane (isiNdebele).
“When the results finally came, I was now with my husband and we were really gutted by the news.
“What really got us worried was that the warning signs were there, but sadly we were not aware what this was.
“I started thinking of all the times I had been alerted of his seizures, and I wondered what would have become of our child if we had not attended to him or we had been a little too late.
“We were advised by his Doctor to watch out for any signs of convulsions and also to watch out his temperature which was synonymous with the condition.
“I even had to go to his school to advise his teacher of his condition.
“I also had to tell his friends because I knew I could not be with him always,” narrated Chikondi as she fought tears from trickling down her cheeks.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), epilepsy is a chronic non-communicable disease of the brain that affects people of all ages.
It is reported that around 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, making it one of the most common neurological diseases globally.
A report on epilepsy by Thabani Moyo revealed that, “unfortunately, in developing countries such as Zimbabwe, up to 90 percent of people who have this condition, and sometimes even more, are excluded from care and consequently remain in the shadow of the treatment gap.”
The International League Against Epilepsy, estimates that about 180 000-500 000 have epilepsy in Zimbabwe, while the national treatment gap stands at 85 percent.
And it is further reported that the prevalence of epilepsy is about 1,34 percent.
Whilst Chikondi is one of the thousands of caregivers who have struggled to manage children or relatives with epilepsy, one hopes that a brilliant technology which was showcased at the Cimas Health Group-Harare Institute of Technology (HIT) Healthathon2.0 will finally be launched and rolled out.
The EpiAPP, an Epilepsy Patient Monitoring System, showcased as a prototype by Munashe Dube and his team, is set to revolutionise the management of the epilepsy, providing doctors with real-time monitoring for (epilepsy) patients, a timely innovation in Zimbabwe’s health sector.
During the healthathon, Dube and his team had clearly demonstrated how this cutting edge technology would become a game changer in the country’s health sector, much to the admiration of all attendees, judges included, evidenced by their clinching of the first prize.
The EpiAPP mobile application, facilitates communication between patients, caregivers and healthcare providers.
Such was the brilliance of the technology that guest of honour at the event, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Communication, Technology, Postal and Courier Services, Dr Beaullah Chirume, was astounded.
Said Dr Chirume: “the EpiAPP epilepsy patient monitoring system design really touched me.”
An official at HIT recently revealed that they are now working on fine-tuning all processes, before they can roll out the technology.
It is hoped that through such platforms as the healthathon, brilliant minds can be given the necessary support to come up with technology which can efficiently help the management of several diseases.
Cimas Health Group Chief Executive Officer, Vuli Ndlovu said through the healthathon, they were aiming to bring together a diverse group of students, professionals and innovators to develop cutting edge solutions, addressing the most pressing challenges in the healthcare industry.
“The collaborative Healthathon 2.0 which will be held under the theme “Transforming Healthcare: Pioneering Tomorrow’s Health Solutions”, will bring together a diverse group of students, professionals, and innovators to develop cutting-edge solutions addressing the most pressing challenges in the healthcare industry.
“Cimas Health Group is dedicated to improving healthcare quality through technology and collaboration.
“As a leader in the healthcare industry, we are committed to fostering innovation that can enhance the quality of care and make healthcare more accessible and efficient.
“The Healthathon2.0 competition will serve as a dynamic platform representing a strategic opportunity where participants can showcase their creativity, technical expertise, and problem solving skills to foster innovation in healthcare, enhance partnerships, and develop practical solutions for industry challenges,” said Ndlovu.
A doctor who preferred anonymity citing protocol issues, was full of praises for the EpiAPP, saying she hopes all processes concerning the technology will soon be finalised so that it (application) can be used to manage epilepsy.
“This epilepsy management application could transform how we handle the condition.
“Many patients struggle with tracking seizures and remembering their medication times.
“But with such an application, doctors and caregivers can monitor progress more easily, respond faster during emergencies and improve patients’ quality of life,” said the Doctor.
She added that using the EpiAPP can also help with the collection of data which doctors can use to understand patterns and adjust treatment plans more effectively.
Doctor Efison Dhodho, PhD Researcher and Public Health Specialist at OPHID, said technological advancement in the health sector is very important and it also has to be supported by the critical infrastructure such as internet connectivity, the ease with which people can access the intermediaries of technology and the technological awareness of the population.
“This is particularly important for the health sector because this is basically about how the government and its partners structure to deliver health care to the population.
“So one of the most important aspects of technological advancement is information technology, why, because for meaningful healthcare to be delivered, number one, there must be an ease with which the service delivery of healthcare and the recipients of care are connected, that makes it easy.
“After they have been connected, there must be a way in which information is able to be gathered or processed safely in order to inform decision making at various level of the health system,” said Dr Dhodho in an interview.
He revealed that in Zimbabwe, there are several efforts to revolutionise the health sector using technology as shown by the electronic health records called Impilo Electronic Health Record.
“This is a tool that enables healthcare workers, to manage their patients electronically.
“Instead of a patient moving around with a card, they just move around with a unique identifier and when they get there, their information is available, with the consulting person.
“It’s very powerful when it happens well,” he said.
He added that the country has over 3 000 health facilities scattered all over and around 70 percent have access to good network and for the technology to work effectively, there is need for multi-sectorial collaboration.
“With Artificial Intelligence at a basic level, it reduces the amount of effort required by human beings in processing information and getting new information, so basically you have got a scenario where let’s say if a Doctor is seeing a patient, I get the patient’s history and I check some few things and then I combine pieces of that information to get a diagnosis.
“I can say this child has got a fever, it has been running for four days, the child looks a bit pale, they are not coughing but they have got a terrible headache and I can then say those point to let’s say malaria, if they are coming from a malarias area.
“Now when it becomes more and more complicated, I don’t want to spend so much time as a Doctor thinking about the possibilities, AI can help me.
“It can be trained to be my assistant where when I enter the information, I get suggestions on what it could possibly be, that way I can be able to utilise that to get data faster, more efficient patient care.”
He said sometimes patients tend to forget or lose cards, so combining AI with electronic health record means a healthcare provider can pull up the information and offer a service.
He added that the other useful technology is the handheld diagnostic (technology) like in the case of a handheld ultrasound scan which can feed into a Doctor’s phone.
“It means I can move around when I go to the medical outreaches, let’s say someone has a lump on their neck, I can go there and use the Doppler Scan and I get the information on my Ipad, on my phone and with AI, I can be able to interpret it or send it to a radiologist in Harare, whilst I’m in Binga. I can get any answer.”
He added: “so all these technologies, will make patient management better, will make it more efficient but they need significant multisectoral collaboration around it.
“And that’s something that particularly we are working on promoting, that cross sectoral collaboration around ensuring that we are ready as a country for these various technologies,” added Dr Dhodho.
As we continue to have several technological advancements, there is no doubt that the introduction of an epilepsy management application offers new hope for patients, caregivers and healthcare providers.
And with improved monitoring, early alerts and data-driven treatment, managing epilepsy may soon become safer and more efficient.
