Charis Chrisna
TechInAfrica – In the coming years where diseases and illnesses continue to grow at an unpredictable rate, society also needs more sustainable healthcare facilities to address these issues. Medical tech—more than often abbreviated as Medtech—has always been the expertise of African talent; from unmanned drone deliveries of medical supplies to apps that connect remote medical workers with resources at nearby hospitals. Yet again, this year’s South Africa Innovation Summit’s finalists include some of the most innovative approaches in tackling the healthcare issues of the continent.
Alongside an astonishing prize of R5 million worth of investment offer, the winners will also receive a select invitation to attend three weeks of acceleration programs. Participants of this year’s event believes that numerous healthcare issues can be facilitated using the correct manifestation of technology. Within the cup, eleven finalists have emerged—each bringing their very own specialty in popular categories; Fintech, Big Data, Social Entrepreneurship and Healthcare.
Amongst those, the three healthcare finalists are as follows:
- Curacel, an AI-based platform of Nigeria, tracks transactions and detect potentially fraudulent ones for health insurance companies;
- Cyber Guardian, courtesy of BIIS of South Africa, tracks the user’s lifestyle of chats, emails, and social media usage to analyze their mental health based on a unique machine-learning algorithm.
- South African 3D Prosthetic Hand is a real-life prosthetic hand designed for the disabled to hold a variety of objects—as well as to do everyday tasks which are often deemed difficult for them.
The summit itself will take place on September 11th through 13th at the Cape Town Stadium, whilst aiming to secure approximately R1 billion worth of deals between both investors, startups, and developers.
One of the many reasons why healthcare in Africa has been flourishing fervently is that most startups experience first-hand the staggering healthcare state. Driven by passion and by the need to change things for the better, many have addressed this problem not only for the profit, but also the urgency to contribute towards the referred sector.
Source: gadget.co.za
