I honestly can’t fail to mention how proud I am to have been nominated and awarded as a first-runner up during the Quality Healthcare Kenyan Awards currently in its 4th edition. I was nominated in the Student Innovation Project of the Year-Healthcare Research category. The Quality Healthcare Awards initiative takes a health system strengthening approach to improve standards of health service delivery among health professionals by recognizing outstanding performance, promoting a culture of continuous Quality Improvement, advocating for strong partnerships between health providers and users, fostering innovation and the use of information technology, sharing of best practices, uniting the public and private sectors towards a common goal and creating a platform for collaboration.
I was nominated for the award based on my research work and commitment to improving the health outcomes of people living with non-communicable diseases. In 2021/2022, I conducted a systematic review of mHealth Interventions in Africa and how these digital interventions can be utilized to augment Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in Kenya. I emerged first-runners up through this research project which has been utilized in Kenya to inform mHealth integration. Digital health has the potential to revolutionize healthcare delivery but additional research on the same is greatly warranted for greater understanding regarding impact at scale.
Research is an important tool for social transformation. It helps in quality improvement. The QHKA is equally committed to quality improvement. To this end, a concerted effort must be put toward evidence-based practice which is a sacrosanct principle of health service delivery. We can only improve what we can measure. As part of my feedback, I encouraged participants to incorporate research in their projects so as to assess the impact of the health promotion interventions they run.
Besides my personal accolade, my organization (Stowelink where I am the Chief Programs Officer) was also feted. Stowelink Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing literacy on non-communicable diseases (NCDs), has been recognized for its exceptional work in improving healthcare. We won the Best Use of Social Media in Healthcare during the QHKA through the NCDs 365 Project. The project has been running for four years and utilizes technology to educate young people and the general population on NCDs, such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. The project aims to provide an easy, fun, and simplified way for individuals to learn about these lifestyle diseases, as well as how to prevent them by making lifestyle changes. Our current project- NCDs and Climate Change project funded by AstraZeneca was also nominated for QHKA and emerged second-runners up.
ODUOR KEVIN 