The 2013 Google Innovation Award recognizes and honors innovation and excellence delivered by Iridium Interactive in the area of Health Care Delivery in Kenya through a comprehensive, patient-centered, tuberculosis management platform called TIBU.  TIBU in Kiswahili means“to cure” or “treat medically.”   According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Kenya ranks 15th on the list of 22 high-burden tuberculosis (TB) affected countries in the world. With over 150,000 people suffering from the disease, TB remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality in Kenya.

Speaking on this occasion, Sriram(Sri) Bharatam, Iridium Interactive CEO and Founder said, “The best part about the TIBU solution is that it simplifies the delivery of health care services for patients and health workers alike and provides a cost-effective platform to reach every person requiring treatment across the country.”

TIBU is the only comprehensive disease tracking and health information system available globally. TIBU seamlessly integrates treatment and monitoring from patient to health facility to county and provincial health offices, and finally to Ministry of Health in Nairobi. This hybrid solution connects patients and providers through Android devices and Internet Cloud infrastructure and can successfully operate even in remote locations where there is no electricity and mobile signals.  TIBU’s real-time mapping, data analysis and reporting capabilities empower Ministry of Health staff at all levels to monitorand take immediate corrective actions, such as re-supplying warehouses when drug shortages arise or reallocating staff when patient demand increases.

In less than four months of national roll out across Kenya, TIBU captured electronic medical records for 75% of all Kenya’s TB patients and has reimbursed over US$300,000 (approx. Ksh. 28 million) to patients through more than 146,000 mobile payments via M-PESA. Android tablets are used to access electronic health records and to deliver short training videos developed by Iridium interactive to Ministry staff on how to operate TIBU, how to use the tab device itself, and how to gain or update medical knowledge and skills.

With the financial support of USAID, theKenya Ministry of Health provided the policy and technical direction to Iridium Interactive to develop  TIBU,  a Comprehensive Solution for Healthcare Delivery in collaboration with its innovation partners, Safaricom and Tangazoletu.

TIBU provides real-time TB and Leprosy data into DHIS 2 or the District Health Information System, Kenya’s National Health Data System and has done so by connecting information systems used by other MOH units or projects. Thus, the TIBU platform has the potential to expand into other disease verticals in Kenya, such as HIV/AIDS and Malaria, or be scaled geographically across Africa.

The 2013 Google Innovation Awards Winners were announced at the “Connected Kenya 2013” ICT event held at the SarovaWhite Sands, Mombasa on May 27-30, 2013. The Connected Kenya Summit is the brainchild of the Kenya ICT Board in consultation with industry players and key government decision-makers. The Summit provides a platform for collaboration, capacity-building and priority sharing between government and the IT sector to link and accelerate implementation of government IT projects to world class standards. The Connected Kenya Summit has been successfully held since 2009.  The theme for the 2013 Connected Kenya Summit was “The County Citizen. Served“

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