ewellness

ewellnes is committed  to providing solutions to the high suicide rate among the slum residences in Kampala which is caused by mental health crisis due to economic hardships and marginalization. ewellness believes that by offering accessible mental health care, suicide rate will reduce and there will be increase in economic productivity among the slum dwellers. My solution have the potential to change the millions of lives globally because of its accessibility and sustainability. Our services can be accessible from anywhere in the world, this will allow many people to access mental health at a cheaper cost while saving time . 

As many as three in Five Ugandan living  in low-income and informal settlements surrounding Kampala and other major towns in  suffer from anxiety, depression or substance-use problems (and this does not include more serious conditions such as bipolar disorder or schizophrenia),(WHO). Research reveals that over 40% of people living with HIV and over 87% of sexual minority group (LGBTQ) in Kampala have a diagnosable mental disorder. Uganda has no national coverage of community mental healthcare (WHO). In addition to a lack of resources, stigmas surrounding mental health pose a major stumbling block when it comes to treating the disease in Uganda. Mental illness is not considered a real illness in the Ugandan culture and it’s always associated with evil spirits. As a result, victims are afraid of being discriminated against, disowned by their families, expelled from school or even fired from work, should they admit to having a problem (BBC Africa). Mental health crisis in Kampala is greatly coursed by high economic hardships and that’s why it is very common in slum areas where people live under $1PPP per day. 

Am working with people who lives under $1ppp per day and living in informal settlements around Kampala City. They are highly vulnerable to mental illness due to economic hardship and government policy marginalization. ewllness is filling this service gap by offering free access to mental health services through harnessing technology like mobile phones.This will help them achieve better mental wellness through counselling and rehabilitation hence improving their productivity .  

ewellness is filling this service gap through offering E-Mental Health services which involves the use of the internet and other electronic communication technologies to deliver mental health information, care, intervention and advocacy . Our research confirmed that E-mental health services are an effective option to traditional face-to-face mental health support which is highly stigmatized in Uganda. By providing accessible and convenient assistance, ewellness is playing a very vital role for patients seeking help especially those who are scared of speaking out. 

ewellness offers following services:-
Mobile phone intervention, online assessment or diagnostic, instant messaging and video-based counselling services (telehealth or telepsychiatry), online support groups, forums and social networks, blogs and podcasts, web-based self-management intervention like education, supports recovery,  motivational email,  personalized monitoring/support for individuals in recovery from substance use disorders; global positioning system to detect when users are nearing high-risk environments; personalized stories of recovery experiences; links to support network , virtual online community for parents of children with emotional and behavioral challenges in which they can do social sharing of different strategies. 

The innovation provides the best alternative to traditional face-to-face mental health service and other ways because it lowers the cost of mental health access as many patients will have free access, also will have an increased impact because many people who are afraid to speak out like sexual minorities, women, employees, students etc because of stigma will have the ability to access help confidentially. Through ewellness, the duration of waiting for help is reduced because help is instantly accessible in real time through phone calls, instant messages or chat bots. In summary, ewellness is cheap (free), accessible from anywhere, confidential and many people can get help at the same time hence impacting high number of people in a short time. 

Our innovation primarily utilize AI and Blockchain to deliver e-mental health.

Because it offers evidence based approach .

600- current clients, 5000-10000 next one year and 1million+ in the next five years

To scale ewellness to global stage and be able to impact lives in millions. 

Funding, unfavorable government policies and expertise 

Through Collaboration , building sustainable revenue base 

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10 Full-time and 5 part-time staffs 

The innovation provides the best alternative to traditional face-to-face mental health service and other ways because it lowers the cost of mental health access as many patients will have free access, also will have an increased impact because many people who are afraid to speak out like sexual minorities, women, employees, students etc because of stigma will have the ability to access help confidentially. Through ewellness, the duration of waiting for help is reduced because help is instantly accessible in real time through phone calls, instant messages or chat bots. In summary, ewellness is cheap (free), accessible from anywhere, confidential and many people can get help at the same time hence impacting high number of people in a short time. 

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Filling service gaps and helping to address concerns due to stigma and other reasons, access to mental health services at low cost, solving access issues in situations where specialist referral is difficult, such as in rural, remote and low socioeconomic areas, providing an introduction to therapy for individuals who are experiencing mental health issues for the first time and those with long-standing problems but have never sought professional assistance, presenting a convenient and flexible option for patients by empowering them to decide when and where treatment will take place. 

Though we will still need funding from the private sector, government  or international donors at scale, we intend to develop a strong base of sustainable revenue streams to reduce philanthropic dependency and increase our revenue like selling advisory, training, or research service to government and other organizations, selling sponsored contents, subscription services/memberships, and advertising/sponsorship especially to corporate and philanthropic sponsors and creating a for-profit subsidiary. This will not in any way affect our goal of offering free and accessible mental health care. 

We believe with strategic partnership from solve, we can sustainable implement our project.

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Uganda Government- To come up with better policies towards mental health and increase access.

VitalHub- to help us with technology development

Solve- strategic partnerships. 

In our Innovation, AI is a very vital part of our operation. We use it in chat-bots to deliver therapy on online diagnosis and intervention.

We will utilize this prize to implement the e-mental health in with primary focus in slums around Kampala

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We intend to use block-chain technology to create digital identity for our patients. This will also protect the confidentiality of our patients and regulate any unlawful access of use of the data. 

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