Ugandan innovation, the Health Access Connect (HAC) has been named the winner of ViiV Healthcare Connecting to Clinic Positive Action Challenge.
The challenge is crafted to encourage new approaches to solving specific but common problems in HIV that limit health, opportunity and rights.
Positive Action Challenges are meant to connect experts in HIV and international development communities with solvers and innovators from other fields with an aim to identify innovative solutions that can overcome the common bottlenecks faced in tackling HIV.
HAC is a non-profit organisation that sets up mobile clinics in remote areas of Uganda within resource-limited settings.
Their innovative service transports mobile health workers with medicine, equipment and blood samples to and from health centres by adapting and modifying commonly available transportation – motorcycle taxis (bodaboda) – to provide essential health services to communities in need.
As part of the challenge, motorcycle riders will transport health workers and supplies to several villages per month, providing local communities with much-needed access to routine check-ups; immunizations; deworming; antimalarial services; and testing, treatment and care for people at risk of and living with HIV.
The programme is projected to provide at least 1,050 patients with essential health services in the first year of operation and more than 15,000 by the end of year two, the vast majority of whom are living on less than $2 per day.
Up to $50,000 will be awarded upon successful demonstration of proof of concept requirements.
The Incubation Prize will collect proof of concept data to assess the long-term sustainability, cost-effectiveness and scalability of the programme in other regions.
The micro-financing model employed by HAC will be piloted to evaluate its on-going viability in resource-limited settings to ensure impactful health outcomes are achieved and optimised.
