Econet working on tech enabled diseases testing system, says founder Masiyiwa

Econet Wireless founder, Strive Masiyiwa, announced via his Facebook page that his company is working on a disease testing system that will enable health delivery centers around the country test diseases and get results quicker through technology. The system, the post says, is still in development by the company’s R&D team.

Through the system, which Masiyiwa refers to as Econet Disease Surveillance Network (EDSN), tests are communicated through the Econet network and results delivered back via SMS “in a matter of seconds” allowing remote clinics to access them timely. This we’re thinking is in comparison to them sending blood samples to labs in the city and waiting a significantly longer time to get the results. That and the logistical cost of doing so ofcourse.

Here’s an excerpt of the post:

Our research and development team, working with partners in America, have developed a test kit, which we can install at any rural clinic, or hospital. A blood sample, through a simple finger prick, is taken, and placed on a cartridge containing a strip of absorbent paper impregnated with antibodies. If the person has an infection, the paper changes colour. The paper is then photographed using a simple cell phone camera, supplied as part of the kit. The picture of the sample is beamed over our network, to a special computer, which processes it, and provides a diagnosis, which is sent back to the remote clinic, in a matter of seconds, by SMS. The computer also collates the data, to enable public health officials, to know the spread of diseases, in the country.

So, far we have the capacity to test for 5 diseases: malaria, HIV, dengue, influenza and hepatitis B. The test kit, not only enables thousands of people to be tested, and treated, but it also allows governments, to be able to monitor the movement real time of any of these diseases, enabling them to react quickly to major outbreaks.

We usually hear of Disease Surveillance in the context of monitoring the disease spread so we’re not sure why Econet’s project is named so. Our guess is the disease progression monitoring is a useful by-product of the tests as the data is generated anyway and might as well be fed to health authorities in the country.