Description of Session
In 2016, Babylon healthcare, a UK digital health company, entered Rwanda on invitation from the Government of Rwanda to adapt and launch its' innovative digital health service in Rwanda. Babyl, from its call centre in Kigali, provides a nationwide digital health service on both feature and smart phones, including virtual consultations with nurses and doctors, digital prescriptions and laboratory tests issued via SMS code. In partnership and licensed by the Ministry of Health (MoH), Babyl began clinical operations in September 2016. Based on their early success, Babyl signed MoUs with the MoH for integration with primary health facilities and with the Rwandan Social Security Board (RSSB) to enable Babyl's patients to obtain prescriptions and laboratory tests covered by their public health insurance scheme. Babyl has now integrated its platform into 418 of 507 health centres in all 30 districts in Rwanda, trained staff in over 538 partner health facilities to deliver digital health services, and placed agents in over 150 health facilities to support help to use Babyl. They have also trained over 10,000 Community Based Health Workers on the use of digital health. More than 2million Rwandans are registered with the service, over 550,000 consultations have been provided by the team of 106 nurses, 80 doctors, support and management staff and they currently deliver 2,500 and 3,000 consultations a day. In order to understand the reach, acceptability, and cost-effectiveness of this digital first primary health service, Babyl commissioned an independent study conducted by Dalberg Partners with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID. The study which was completed in March 2019, provides valuable insights to operational improvements and more importantly, demonstrates the potential of digital health interventions to make transformative contributions to accelerating Universal Health Coverage.
