On the Rekod with Sister?Joyce?Meyer

Joyce Meyer, a Sister of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary & former Executive Director at the Conrad N Hilton Fund for Sisters, recently visited our Nairobi offices and had this to say:

“I just got back from Nairobi,Kenya, where I met John Kamara the founder and CEO of AfyaRekod, a new start-up focused on digitising healthcare. I first met Kamara in Los Angeles when a mutual friend invited us to lunch. At the time, I was intrigued by his new vision for healthcare in Africa, a continent devoid of health data access. Seeing his dream become a reality is incredible. He has a team of passionate young men and women, as well as technology experts, engineers, and researchers. I had a great time meeting them and was encouraged to hear that many of them had left other jobs because of the vision and excitement of this new venture.

AfyaRekod is unique in that it not only helps health facilities digitise their records, but also allows patients to keep and access all of their health data on their devices after they sign up on any platform created by AfyaRekod. This aids in avoiding mistakes such as misdiagnosis when visiting clinics or health centres outside of their immediate area. The platform also allows a doctor to track patients' daily symptoms (with patient’s consent) and identify patterns of impending disease outbreaks.

As John Kamara talked about AfyaRekod's new platform the Universal Patient Portal, my mind could see how self-monitoring healthcare in local communities can keep individuals and families healthy. He also stated that he is promoting his new plan to 40 Catholic Sisters-run health facilities in Kenya. This made me very proud, confirming once again how visionary sisters are. Three of the Catholic Sisters' health centres were able to implement the new program, and others are still considering it. Signing up presents a number of challenges, one of which is the cost to patients with low incomes, sometimes not even enough for food. And many more challenges that the AfyaRekod team is aware of and working to beat. This, however, doesn’t take away from the fact that AfyaRekod is working on a solution that will benefit the whole of Africa.``

Article by Joyce Meyer