Baobab Health Partnership (www.baobabhealth.org) has taken an aggressive approach to the use of information technology to improve healthcare delivery in the developing world.  In Malawi, a country with less than 200 doctors and an HIV/AIDS prevalence in excess of 1 million people, innovative uses of technology are essential to tackle the huge burden of AIDS-related illnesses and deaths.
  

Baobab designs and builds inexpensive low-power touchscreen computers, and creates open source software to improve healthcare delivery in Malawian hospitals and HIV clinics.  Software is designed to emulate the highly protocolized model of care that has been developed by the Ministry of Health in Malawi.  eLabtronics is supporting the development of an optical touchscreen which can be built inexpensively by local technicians in Malawi as a replacement for the current approach of importing a costly resistive touchscreen sensor.

The Baobab Lab

Baobab's technology allows the tracking of patient information over time:  patients are issued unique bar-codes, which are then scanned at each visit to bring up the patient's medical record.  In addition to promoting continuity of care, it allows (real-time) statistical monitoring and studying of health data, helping to focus and efficiently target HIV treatment programs.  More than 500,000 patients have been issued unique patient identifiers to date, and Baobab is scaling up to a nation-wide system.  Roughly 12,000 patients receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) are being managed using Baobab systems.  

Central to Baobab's plans to scale-up is a philosophy of hiring and training local Malawian professionals.  This model is essential to ensure that the goals of the organization are home-grown rather than imposed, and that the solutions are sustainable in Malawi.
  

The Touchscreen

The intuitive graphical interface of eLabtronics CoreChart and ezCircuit Designer greatly simplifies microcontroller programming, fast-tracking the development process and allowing non-specialists to participate in the electronics design.  It is an ideal fit with the innovative approach of Baobab.  Computer systems comprising 3 touchscreens, a central server, and backup batteries are constructed for a few thousand dollars using donated terminals and some creative re-engineering.  The touchscreen workstations are all powered using "Power-over-Ethernet", greatly simplifying the cabling requirements.  Some systems are being deployed with solar and wind generators.  Wireless towers 20+ meters in height link up rural clinics creating a growing infrastructure of in-country bandwidth used for moving medical data between sites.  Beyond the development of the optical touchscreen, Baobab is excited to take advantage of the eLabtronics toolkit for further development and optimization of other aspects of its system.  The creativity and innovation of Baobab's local staff will be fostered with these tools at their disposal.  

“eLabtronics is privileged and honored to contribute to Baobab’s  efforts to promote development in Malawi,” said Peng Choo, CEO of eLabtronics. “We hope by sharing our knowledge and providing CoreChart sponsorship for the design of low cost touch screens, eLabtronics can contribute to the transfer of microchip programming and electronic skills to organizations like Baobab Health which are based in low income countries. We are keen to use this baby step to expand on CoreChart sponsorships in Malawi to encourage businesses to form “Alliances for Poverty Relief” in order to support and sustain the great work of Baobab Health.” 

About Baobab

Since 2001, Baobab has been building and deploying health care technology that improves patient care in Malawi. With a small team of mostly Malawian staff, Baobab has innovated a reliable and low cost approach approach that matches the needs of it users. Baobab is currently aiming to expand their HIV treatment system to rural health centers throughout the country. We could use your help - visit www.baobabhealth.org for more information.

About CoreChart sponsorship

CoreChart is likened to “Windows for microchip programming”. CoreChart revolutionises the way microchips are programmed. It is a user friendly graphical “machine language” which makes microchip programming highly accessible in education and industry.

CoreChart sponsorships are deployed in humanitarian projects to help underprivileged people. The aim is to use CoreChart sponsorship to connect with other sponsorships to provide for sustainable ICT skills development in the least developed countries.

If you wish to fnd out more about CoreChart sponsorship please email: sponsorship@elabtronics.com