Home-based COVID-19 Detection & Testing

Problem:

Delays in detecting and testing of COVID-19 in Africa

Solution:

We are able to decentralized the early identification and testing of  potential COVID-19 cases. We can disrupt transmission chains by bringing COVID detection to the household level. We leverage our technology for:

1. Remote (mobile based) COVD19 self assessments

2. Identifying suspected COVID-19 cases and mapping their location in real-time

3. Rapid deployment of healthcare workers alongside our approved Lancet Labs partnership

4. Home-based sample collection for COVID-19 testing

5. Rapidly transporting human samples and health workers with our motorbikes (modified to contain PPE, sample collection and biohazard material)

Global impact:

Our vision is to leverage our technology and export this decentralized model to COVID-19 detection. We can alleviate the burden placed on hopsital and clinics and rapidly flatten the curve through testing.

The approach to the COVID-19 response has been categorized as an inconsistent patchwork of initiatives around the globe. Each country has responded to the same threat with measures that have differed in strategy and timing but have either focused on two main approaches, namely isolation-based responses or detection and testing-based responses. 

In certain Asian countries such as Singapore, the focus has been on aggressive COVID-19 testing for the general population. As a result, they have largely succeeded in stemming the outbreak. Other countries have taken similar approaches with success.

On the other hand, countries such as France, U.S.A and Italy, have witnessed large-scale delays in testing and placed more emphasis on isolation (borders and social isolation). As a result, a number of advanced economies have all seen explosions of COVID-19, some of which have surpassed China in cases and mortality. Widespread testing is the key to tackling COVID-19.

By decentralizing COVID-19 testing we aim to address the following problems:

• Increase rates of infections in clinical settings
• Explosion of COVID-19 cases in densely populated city centers in Africa
• Strain on human and material resource availability in resource limited settings
• Inadequate response and follow-up times upon detection of a COVID-19 case

The journey occurs as follows:

1. A COVID-19 self assessment is carried out through our platform.

2. If self-assessment results are positive, our system triggers an alert to our healthcare personnel and our COVID19 approved parner lab Lancet Labs

3. Further triage and communication occurs via mobile

4. If deemed necessary, healthcare workers deploy with our modified motorbikes for rapid sample collection at the patient's location

5. Samples are brought back to our partner lab for PCR analyses and, if positive, reporting to the national influenca lab for RRT activation.

The entire process occurs in less than 1 hour. With additional motorbikes and capacity, we can scale this innovation rapidly.

Our solution is particularly relevant to countries, cities and communities that are densely populated and which rely extensively on the use of motorbikes for transportation of goods and services. Our initial target market is Nairobi, Kenya (pop~4.6M) where we will pilot this model and 7 motorbikes to collect and transport human samples to the laboratory for testing of COVID-19 alongside our partner lab.

TIBU and its founder have been active in the Kenyan healthcare space for approximately 7 years. We have engaged partners and communities to understand the accpetability of home-based care. Of those surveyed, approximately 98% cited the acceptability of home-based care (n=367).

1. Our solution allows for the rapidly detection suspected COVID19 cases.

2. The collection of geo-location information to assist with response planning and execution

3. Interoperability of health data to assist authorites and the global community with response planning and resource allocations

The objective of this grant is to increase rapid detection and testing of COVID-19 which our exisitng technology, healthtech company and partnerships are able to execute within 1 week. Further, data sharing is essential for strategic planning and response activities. Our platform has been built on the FHIR protocol to easily share collected data.

TIBU currently has no direct competitors. Our model of bringing the clinic and the lab to a patient's location in real-time is a veritable first on the African continent.

TIBU only has indirect competitors in the telemedicine field. However, these initiatives have limited diagnostics capabilities. Further, an increasing body of evidence shows that when it comes to healthcare people will always prefer in-person contact for services rather than through video or chat platforms.

In a similar way that AirBnB has created experiences for people, TIBU has done the same thing with its healthcare delivery platform. No more traffic or waiting rooms to see the doctor or get lab investigations carried out. Our platform links patients to our licensed and trained healthcare workers who deploy with our patent-pending health medical kits that replicate the capabilities of the clinic and the lab.

Our healthcare workers typically arrive on-site with the patient in approximately 20 minutes with the entire consultation process taking an additional 30.

Our on-demand platform can and has been modified for emergency responses such as COVID19 rapid detection and response.

Our solution involves three key elements:

1. Healthcare sourcing, vetting and training according to TIBU SOPs.

2. A 2-sided technology platform with geo-mapping capabilities that match our healthcare workers to patients in real time. Our platform equally has an in-built triage mechanism, as well as a system that encrypts and stores all patient health information on their application.

3. Patent-pending medical kits that replicate the capabilities of a typical primary outpatient healthcare facility, inlcuding blood and non-blood sample collections and transportation capabilities.

Our product is currently in market in Nairobi, Kenya. Our product was launched at the same time COVID19 was announced in Kenya. Since then, we have approximately 262 users which have been extremely pleased with the quality and professionalism the model affords. To date, no samples collected have been deemed unsuitable for analysis.

Similar models exist in the USA, namely Heal Healthcare and Page Healthcare. However, TIBU has taken this model further by providing an extensive set of on-site diagnostic capabilities.

TIBU was featured on EWB's impact series, Jumia Africa's Live Stream for COVID and the Chini Ya Maji podcast. We will shortly be featured in the Impact Africa Journal, the Baobab Network and CGTN News Africa.

Mission statement:

Provide high-quality, primary outpatient healthcare at a location and time of a patient's choice.

Long-term outcome:

1. Improve health by improving the accessibility to quality healthcare services.

Medium-term outcomes:

1. Reduce catastrophic expeditures as a result of delays in seeking healthcare

Short term outcome:

1. Increase accessiblity to healthcare service through affordability, convenience and discretion.

Outputs:

1. Convenient and affordable healthcare delivered to patients in a timely manner.

Activities:

1. Delivering healthcare services using tailored medical kits and a tech-enabled platform

____

Proof of Concept Results:

1. 80% would use and recommend TIBU’s platform

2. 100% were satisfied with the time required to get a health worker to them

3. 7.5 min between requesting a health worker the health workers deployment

4. 80% of clients were satisfied with the health workers level of professionalism

5. 1.86 hours average sample processing time

6. 98% would prefer an on-demand and home-based healthcare service.

___

Testimonials:

“This addresses a big gap that’s been overlooked”

-Suave Kenya

“The service was professional and the number of tests available was comprehensive”

-Khalid Awale

“I have two kids at home. Having a health worker come to the house is incredibly convenient for me and saves me huge amounts of time”

-Nathalie Maikere

“This is a no-brainer”

-TIBU Health Worker

“That app is impressive. You guys did an amazing job with that”

-CEO, ID Biologics, Silicon Valley

“The experience has been great. The app is nice and light at only 5mb and the setup process was very smooth. I’m VERY impressed”

-Software Engineer, Kenya

Current users: 262

1 year: 5,000

Five Years: 300,000

Note: Above figures for Kenya only. We intend on scaling across African countries.

Our obejective is to scale both vertically and horizontally to include additional healthcare workers onto our platform such as nurse, midwives and community healthcare workers in order to increase our reach and be able to target those in informal settlements that need high quality healthcare services the most.

Similarly, our model can be replicated and exported across africa to improve the delivery of primary healthcare services.

Lastly, our vision is to increase the number of practicing healthcare workers in Africa. In Kenya alone, 45% of clinical officers are underemployed or unemployed, whereas approximately 30% of medical officers are in the same position. We aim to create employment by creating tens of thousands of decentralized clinics in Africa.

Financial:

We are an early stage company that is effectively creating a marketplace that does not exist. Investors typically flock to businesses they know and feel comfortable with (e-commerce, logistics, agritech, fintech). As such, raising money for such a dramatic and "risky" business has been challenging. Our current runway extends until August of 2020

Behavioural:

When humans think healthcare they typically think of clinic or hospitals, not of clinics or laboratories that come to their homes. As such, we have to change the psyche of our users and ingrain in them a sense of trust and confidence in our model. That quality healthcare services can be professionally delivered outside of traditional healthcare spaces.

Strategic partnerships with established brands:

TIBU is currently involved with a number of partnerships converstion with well known and estbalished insurance and health companies. We intend on leveraging their credibility through these partnerships to create a sense of trust in TIBU.

Visiblity:

We continue to use social media, news and other platform avaialable to discuss TIBU, its capabilities and benefits

Full time (5):

Jason Carmichael, CEO

Peter Gikera, CTO

Dr. Hanane Akrim, CMO

Collins Muriuki, Engineer

Dr. Carity Runi, Clinician

Dr. Nancy Oigara, Clinician

Advisors (6):

Medical, tech, operations, legal, mHealth, business development.

Jason Carmichael: Former WHO staffer (5 years) and part of the emergency response team for Ebola and Cholera. Seven (7) years healthcare experience in over 20 countries in Africa

Peter Gikera: Awards winning mobile software engineer. Recognized by google and twitter.

Dr. Hanane Akrim: General practitioner with experience in research and rural and remote campaigns for health.

Advisors:

Legal: Current role at the World Intellectual Property Organization

mHealth: Leader in mHealth and first quality RCT carried out in Kenya on the ability of mHealth to help with HIV retention in care. Published in lancet.

Business development: Former senior McKinsery and Company manager.

Operations and strategy: Recognized leader in the global financial and fintech space in Africa.

Lancet Labs: COVID19 testing partner

Fuzu recruitment: recruitment, reach and visibility (over 1 million unique users a month)

Nairobi Garage: B2B relationship for their coworking space. We provide the healthcare services for their community

Medlynks Labs: General lab partner (excluding COVID19)

Ultra Red technologies: 3D printing and design partner

MEDS: WHO/ISO-certified medical supplier

MORINGA School: Tech talent and placement program

Ongoing: Discussions with insurance companies.

We deliver healthcare workers to patients in real time at a time and location of their choosing. These products are provided on-site and include:

• General examinations (blood pressure, pulse oximetry, respiratory, etc.)
• General aches and pains
• Gastrointestinal problems
• Ear, nose and throat infection
• Coughs, influenza, pneumonia
• Genitourinary tract infections
• Arthritis and other joint pains
• Neurological examinations
• Allergies, rashes, etc.
• Cuts, scrapes, small wounds
• On-site rapid tests
• Phlebotomy and non-blood sample collection
• Confirming pregnancy
• Recording previous pregnancy/obstetric history
• ANC screening: blood/Rh grouping, blood sugar, anemia, malaria, syphilis, HIV, bacteriuria (UTI or diseases), proteinuria, pre-eclampsia
• Prescribe iron/folate and other supplements
• Advise on nutrition, alcohol and tobacco use, safe sex, etc.
• Referral to specialized health services as appropriate and indicated by screening

In addition, TIBU can provide maternal and newborn child health services on-site. This includes:

• Confirming pregnancy
• Recording previous pregnancy/obstetric history
• ANC screening: blood/Rh grouping, blood sugar, anemia, malaria, syphilis, HIV, bacteriuria (UTI or diseases), proteinuria, pre-eclampsia
• Prescribe iron/folate and other supplements
• Advise on nutrition, alcohol and tobacco use, safe sex, etc.
• Referral to specialized health services as appropriate and indicated by screening

TIBU will rely on external funding for the first three years. To date, this has been in the form of venture capital funding.

Current revenue stream:

1. We generate revenue through consultation fees

2. Labs and on-site procedures.

Future revenue stream:

1. Insurance claims

2. platform licensing to hospitals and clinics

3. subscriptions.

4. Pharmaceuticals

5. Referrals

6. Medical kit sales.

Solve and MIT have a reputation for innovation and harnessing the possibilities of moonshot ideas. Our idea of disrupting an archaic and inneficient healthcare model with one that decentralized the clinic and lab to make it convenient and affordable seems to be a promising fit for SOLVE.

Typical investors approach us with caution because of the unfamiliarity of our model. However we feel an organization like solve would embrace such disruption and help us grow and scale across Africa for meaninful impacts in the healthcare sector.

We are hopeful that through solve we can make the necessary connections and partnerships that will help springboard our model across the continent. We want to build our networks in the AI, legal, marketing, health and bio-engineering sector to improve our technology, services and reach.

Our immediate challenge is with marketing and product distribution. We need support to overcome the psychological barriers to service delivery that confine individuals to thinking healthcare = clinic and hospitals.

The support is needed to create a brand that is synonymous with trust, professionalism and credibility.

Problem:

Delays in detecting and testing of COVID-19 in Africa

Solution:

We are able to decentralized the early identification and testing of  potential COVID-19 cases. We can disrupt transmission chains by bringing COVID detection to the household level. We leverage our technology for:

1. Remote (mobile based) COVD19 self assessments

2. Identifying suspected COVID-19 cases and mapping their location in real-time

3. Rapid deployment of healthcare workers alongside our approved Lancet Labs partnership

4. Home-based sample collection for COVID-19 testing

5. Rapidly transporting human samples and health workers with our
motorbikes (modified to contain PPE, sample collection and biohazard
material)