Samsung Kenya employees donation leads to pilot ICT project in Dagoretti

Samsung Kenya announced that donations made by their employees lead to the piloting of an ICT solution that will improve maternal and child health care at the Riruta Health Clinic in Dagoretti Sub-County in Nairobi County. The launch of this solution is an initiative of Samsung Electronics East Africa in conjunction with VSO Jitolee.

The purpose of this solution is to assist health workers switch from manual data entry to real time data entry, registration, tracking and maintaining follow ups with mothers at various stages of their pregnancy on an e-Platform. It will also enable health workers monitor patient health history and inform registered parents and guardians of their children’s immunization records from birth.

Additionally, the solution will provide information on how to prevent HIV and AIDS transmission from mother to child and the value of nutritional supplements. Health workers based in peri-urban locations of Dagoretti will be able to enter real time data in the system which will be sent to a central database.

This will help the County, Ministry and various health institutions generate accurate reports to inform rapid decision making and support resource allocation across the medical sector.

Apart from the solution, Samsung Electronics East Africa also donated five TVs and DVD players which will be used to disseminate information on maternal and child health care to women of child-bearing age in the sub-county. The tech company also donated ten laptops and tablets to the health workers.

“This initiative is an important step towards embracing the real needs of healthcare providers and patients. We aim to leverage our technology to help individuals lead healthier lives, while delivering healthcare providers the tools they need to improve clinical outcomes,” said Robert Ngeru, Vice President and COO, Samsung Electronics East Africa.

“We are all aware that mothers are the foundation of our society and givers of life which is why we need to take care of them. This project is designed to deliver on that promise and ensure that our health sector fulfills its mandate to boost the health of Kenyans in general,” added Mr. Ngeru.

Mr. Ngeru also spoke about his employees saying that their donations could not be quantified because apart from donating the money, the employees also donated their time through Samsung’s Employee Volunteer Program, by attending a medical camp hosted by Samsung East Africa’s Employee Volunteer Program at Dagoretti.

The partnership with VSO also forms part of Samsung’s Employee Volunteer Program (EVP), which encourages employees to use part of their time to uplift and empower the underprivileged in the community.

“Our vision as VSO is to empower local communities to achieve sustainable change and build resilience against future challenges. We promote volunteering as a powerful and practical way to tackle poverty and disadvantage. In partnership with other stakeholders, we are contributing to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 3 (Health and Well-being), to reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 live births by 2030. We are confident that our partnership with Samsung Electronics East Africa and the County Health Management team is a step in the right direction,” said George Awalla, VSO Jitolee’s Head of programmes.