Project Lead(s): Judy Gichoya
Issue
For every 1,000 children born in Kenya, 75 die before their fifth birthday. For every 1,000 women who deliver, four die in childbirth.
Innovative healthcare delivery that links health facilities and communities can be hindered by identification issues, such as redundant names, inaccurate addresses and dates of birth.
Solution
The project was conducted to identify the electronic components needed to strengthen health systems in Western Kenya, through use of biometric record linkage of community members and community health extension workers.
The pilot project evaluated the use of fingerprints to improve patient identification and matching, to provide complete information needed for patient care.
A mobile system was used that allows the correct identification of patients who are registered by outreach workers in the field. The use of fingerprint readers for the pilot was selected because of the increasing availability of this technology, when compared to voice recognition and iris eye scanners.
Outcome
Fingerprinting software was developed that can be used in biometric electronic medical records.
The software was successfully tested on 300 patients with 100% accuracy.
The project was also able to successfully link all sampled patients registered end-to-end on the mobile system to the web system, with 100% acceptability.
The study team has been included in a new LARK study – Linkage and Retention in Western Kenya – a five-year grant awarded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for linkage and retention of patients with hypertension in Western Kenya.