MUST students win innovation challenge

Two students from MUST recently saw their innovation in the 2022 Innovation Jam emerge winner in the e-health category of the National Bank and Information and Communication Technology Association of Malawi (ICTAM) joint competition.

Wezzie Banda and Hendrix Bwanali’s E-Mobile Care beat competition from Malawi Analytics Platform from Elizabeth Glazer and Paediatric Aids Foundation (EGPAF) and MediSmart Solution from Smart Applications International Limited.

The three were among 16 innovations that were nominated for the 2022 Innovation Jam awards.

In an interview, Wezzie said the project aims at delivering health services through mobile clinics through portable customised cost-effective e-mobile devices to reduce the current burden of public health system and promote popularity of routine health self-check.

“It was an exciting moment when we were announced winners. For me, I didn’t expect that we could win at national level because we are still students. It gave me courage and now I am geared to take on more challenges,” said Wezzie.

Wezzie said competition under e-health was tough because their competitors were well established in the field.

“We were the only students but we made it on position number one. This gave us the courage that we are doing something special,” said Wezzie.

Going forward, they winners want to enhance more academic innovations for social and economic impact and already plans are underway to establish a medical firm.

According to the innovators, E-Mobile care was inspired by substandard societal health care and unavailability of proper clinics or health facilities in Malawian remote areas, especially those that can be easily accessed by the elderly.