Global Health hackathon in South Africa

Invitation to Global Health hackathon

Welcome to join our Global Health hackathon, in collaboration with Empire Partner Foundation in South Africa

Overall Theme: Healthcare

Date: 27th – 28th August 2022

Venue: Hybrid (Join IRL in South Africa, or virtual on Discord).

Prizes: Shared 1750 USD for top 3 teams. Winning solutions stands chance to enter incubation hub 1-2 year technopreneurship program.

Entry requirements for participants: competence in Programming, Data science, Data engineering, UI-UX, Medicine, Healthcare, Business, Marketing and Finance. 18-35 years of age.

Mentors with documented knowledge in the above mentioned areas of expertise, are welcome to join!

Read more and apply to participate here

EMPIRE PARTNER FOUNDATION COLLABORATION

We are proud to announce our collaboration with Empire Partner Foundation (EPF), based in South Africa! EPF is an NPO founded in 2016 that has mandated itself to solve 10 socio-economic challenges using tech. Healthcare is one of those 10 challenges. Hack for Earth Foundation has proudly joined hands with EPF to host a joint Healthcare hackathon, to find real solutions to global health challenges.

Together with EPF we have identified four global Health challenges to address in the upcoming hybrid hackathon. You can join IRL at EPF in South Africa or virtually in the digital platform Discord. Read more and apply to participate here

IDENTIFIED HEALTH CHALLENGES

The four global health challenges are listed below, with a more detailed description on the background and context further down.

1. Menstrual health. 

How do we use tech to address the stigma of menstruation and period poverty in both developing and rural communities in South Africa?

2. Major incident healthcare preparedness. 

How can we improve healthcare system preparedness for future major incidents like the corona pandemic?

3. Health awareness in rural areas. 

How do we to raise awareness about health (female health, nutrition, vaccination and more) in rural areas?

4. Delivery of affordable healthcare. 

How can a country's health care system deliver medicine and healthcare in a locally affordable context, to provide healthcare for more people?

Sub Theme 1: Menstrual health

Every year in August, South Africa commemorates 20 000 women who in August 9th 1956 marched to the Union Buildings in the protest for women’s rights and against the extension of Pass Laws to women. August 9th is now marked as an official South African public holiday known as Women’s Month.

In light and commemoration of Women’s Month, we have decided to host a hackathon on healthcare and healthcare education challenges that are inclusive of the challenges that adversely affect young girls and women in South Africa and across the globe, and ultimately the global socio-economy at large.

Statement 1: “The onset of puberty and the menstrual cycle is a fundamental and healthy aspect of the lives of women and girls. Menstrual health management (MHM) is linked directly to the fulfilment of human rights and is an integral component of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development. It is also essential for the advancement of the African Union Agenda 2063, and is a key element in implementing the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health 2016-2030. Girls and women must be provided with the necessary information, resources, and support to manage their menstrual needs throughout the life cycle, prior to menarche and in peri-menopause.” https://menstrualhygieneday.or...

Challenge 1: An article by the South African Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities states that, “While period poverty refers to lack of financial means to access sanitary products, the term is particularly poignant in South Africa where girls and women face stigma from menarche to menopause. Every day 300 million women and girls around the world menstruate. A seemingly natural occurrence is turned into a nightmare for millions of women and girls through persistent taboos and stigma, lack of access to sanitary products and proper sanitation, as well as lack of education on managing their menstrual cycle.

Globally, girls and young women are forced to miss school and classes at tertiary institutions due to a lack of sanitary products. This monthly pattern of missing out on education has devastating long term effects, not only in terms of educational development, but also on the psyche of young women.” (https://www.gov.za/speeches/department-women-menstrual-hygiene-day-28-may-2019-0000)

Question 1: How do we use tech to address the stigma of menstruation and period poverty in both developing and rural communities in South Africa?

Sub Theme 2: Major incident healthcare preparedness

After the onset of the covid-19 pandemic, it became cognisant to us all that a lot of countries do not have adequate preparations when it comes to healthcare and emergency response. As such, we have decide to address this challenge in the case of a repeat of another pandemic that we may have to face, so that healthcare sectors in various countries are more prepared and equipped to prevent millions of people’s lives being at stake.

Statement 2: “Major incidents are rare events that can cause multiple causalities to present to hospitals. The ability for a hospital to prepare and manage such events is dependent on awareness, education and rehearsal. Staff must be informed and well-practiced with a major incident plan, in order to deliver quality healthcare and reduce a potential catastrophic loss of life.” (https://sjtrem.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13049-020-00812-y)

Challenge 2: The negative impacts of not having good healthcare system preparedness for major incidents like the corona pandemic: “Limited surge capacity and low testing ability. Healthcare workers preparedness such as the knowledge and management of major incidents. Healthcare workers mental health decline due to stressful working conditions and fear of acquiring the pandemic disease, for themselves and their friends and family. Lack of essential services needed during the pandemic. Reduced patient flow or limited access to health services. Missed appointments for chronic care services.” (https://gh.bmj.com/content/6/12/e007179)

Question 2: How can we improve healthcare system preparedness for future major incidents like the corona pandemic?

Sub Theme 3: Health awareness in rural areas

Like many socio-economic challenges, rural areas are often at the bottom of the barrel, largely due to finances and economic opportunities and inequalities. With many socio-economic challenges, education is often foundational in the cause of the challenge. As such, we have decided to prioritise educational health and healthcare awareness in rural areas, to ensure economic inclusivity, leaving no communities behind.

Statement 3: “Lifestyle diseases could be prevented and controlled by disseminating health knowledge. Health promotion is based on health education, and health knowledge is the foundation of health education. Improving the health literacy of citizens is helpful for improving reasonable treatment ability of residents, promoting the rational use of existing medical and health resources, improving consciousness of residents in prevention and self-health care, making the right judgments for residents to their own health and dealing with public health emergencies scientifically.” (https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-015-1393-2)

Challenge 3: Challenges faced by rural areas around healthcare include: “Higher poverty rates, which can make it difficult for participants to pay for services or programs. Cultural and social norms surrounding health behaviors. Low health literacy levels and incomplete perceptions of health. Linguistic and educational disparities. Limited affordable, reliable, or public transportation options. Unpredictable work hours or unemployment. Lower population densities for program economies of scale coverage. Availability of resources to support personnel, use of facilities, and effective program operation. Lack of access to healthy foods and physical activity options.” (https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/toolkits/health-promotion/1/barriers)

Question 3: How do we to raise awareness about health (female health, nutrition, vaccination and more) in rural areas?

Sub Theme 4: Delivery of affordable healthcare

One cannot address healthcare challenges without addressing the financial aspect. Healthcare has a very large reputation and standing for being financially exorbitant. It then becomes a threat to the affordability and accessibility of a large percentage of the global economy and communities. It poses the challenge of the low quantity of people who have access to healthcare. As such, we have decided to address this challenge and need.

Statement 4: “In strengthening the public sector it is important not only to improve drug supply chains, ambulance services, referral systems and clinical capacity at public clinics, and to address the financial constraints faced by the socially disadvantaged, but also to think through how providers can engage with patients in a way that strengthens the therapeutic alliance.” (https://bmchealthservres.biome...z" target="_blank" class="redactor-autoparser-object">https://bmchealthservres.biome...

Challenge 4: “There is an increasing burden of chronic illness in low and middle income countries, driven by TB and HIV, as well as cardio-vascular disease and diabetes. However, few health systems are organized to meet the needs of chronically ill patients, particularly poor patients who have limited resources with which to seek regular care [5]. As a result, low and middle income countries often fail to mitigate rising chronic disease burdens.” (https://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1472-6963-9-75)

Question 4: How can a country's health care system deliver medicine and healthcare in a locally affordable context, to provide healthcare for more people?

This hybrid hackathon provides the platform to engage youth from across the globe that are in the fields of programming, marketing, finance, UI-UIX, data science/engineering, medicine and business to solve these challenge over two days, and to display their skills to create innovative technological solutions.