Winners of Global Health hackathon announced by the international Jury

THE  WINNER 

The global health hackathon, inaugurated by the Swedish ambassador to South Africa H.E. Håkan Juholt, gathered 400+ participants from 22 countries.

We are proud to announce that the international Jury of the Global Health hackathon has decided on the winner: 

Team Tochan from India with the solution MicroCure

After extremely intense days of work during the global Health hackathon that took place both IRL in Johannesburg and virtually, team leader Laukik Salunkhe from India, 19 years old, of the winning team Tochan,  comments:

- My team and I are extremely grateful and immensely thankful for this opportunity. There definitely is a sense of responsibility we now feel about implementing this idea into tangible reality. We would like to express our our gratitude to the jury for acknowledging our hard work and also to our fellow hackers for being such a good sport. Hack for Earth Foundation and Empire Partner Foundation are together a huge international platform that is a pioneer for promoting healthcare innovations worldwide. It's humbling to have won the hackathon.

THE RUNNER UPS

The winning team Tochan will join the EPF Incubation Hub along with runner up winning teams Synigency and Medi-Track, both teams from South Africa. Together the three teams will share the prize money of total 30.000ZAR (1734 USD).

Team Synigency, who joined the hackathon IRL at the EPF Tech Hub in Johannesburg, describes their innovative solution:

- Synigency provides a solution that will deliver medication efficiently and cost effective with less risk of fraudulant activities and at the same time reduce queues in healthcare centres. Synigency digitize patient files, send alerts to patients and provide blind shipment. The solution will automate the process and streamline communication between doctors and patients.

Team Medi-Track, second runner up in the hackathon, with the solution Medi-Track, comments on how they believe their solution will revolutionize healthcare:

- We are using blockchain technology in the medicine supply chain to prevent falsification and consumption of falsified medicinal products, a problem that claim many lives yearly. Our system give users benefits that ensure that everyone can afford medicine and at the same time manufacturers, retailers and clinics can get data to ensure that medicinal products are easily accessible to everyone anywhere.

Hack for Earth Foundation will work closely together with Empire Partner Foundation, to ensure that the winning solutions MicroCure, Synigency and Medi-Track will get the support they need to make their solutions come to life and bring value to citizens in South Africa and beyond.

THE JURY

The international jury of the global health hackathon consisted of the following 8 distinguished jury members:

• Monica Muhoyha, Kenya-based founder of SisterSpeaks Global and #Heels4Pads, an initiative that uses innovation to raise  awareness on period poverty in Kenya and beyond.
• Thabiso Moletsane, research and strategy analyst at Bonitas Medical Fund
• Sinegugu Tshabalala, researcher in IoT at Thswane University of Technology in South Africa
• Johannes Kriisa, Head of clinical products at Platform24 Healthcare in Stockholm, Sweden.
• Locadia Ncube, Digital Media Analyst at Empire Partner Foundation Tech Fund, Cape Town, South Africa
• Ronny Mabokela, Head of Technopreneurship Center University of Johannesburg, South Africa
• Anthony Agha, serial entrepreneur and product manager tech startup Sabi
• Simba Mhlanga, intergration specialist The Good People Data company

Jury member Johannes Kriisa, Head of clinical products at Platform24 Healthcare in Sweden, comments on the winning solution:

- Team Tochan approaches the mismatch between health need and trained healthcare personel, with innovative boldness. By combining their solution's drug dispenser with telemedicine, doctors in urban areas can assess patients in rural areas, and not be limited to per os pharmaceutical as intervention.

THE ORGANIZERS Hack for Earth Foundation and Empire Partner Foundation

Secretary General of Hack for Earth Foundation Ann Molin, who joined the health hackahon IRL in South Africa together with expert mentor in Medicine Dr. Jacob Rosenholm and senior advisor Partnerships Carolina Emanuelson, comments:

- This hackathon brings me hope for the entire discipline of medicine and healthcare. If we can come together in South Africa from 22 countries over a weekend, all participants taking voluntarily of their free time to create new solutions with people they have never met before - I know the future of medicine is bright. The results of this hackathon truly shows that by connecting passionate minds globally, we can create real change.

Hackathon manager of Empire Partner Foundation (EPF), Jasmine Mokwena, comments:

- I'm proud and honored to have been at the front seat of Empire Partner Foundation's first global hackathon.I'm impressively struck by the winning solution MicroCure by the tenacity of the winning team Tochan. Thank you Hack for Earth Foundation for helping make this longterm aspired milestone come to life.