NEW YORK, Sept 18, 2023 – Health Tech Without Borders, Inc. (HTWB), iDocta, and VSee, announce their Commitment to Action in Cameroon as part of their Commitment to Action at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) 2023 Meeting, held in New York, NY on September 18-19, 2023.
Project VITAL: Virtual International Telehealth and Leadership in Africa aims to expand access to healthcare in the conflict and climate-affected regions of Cameroon. Project VITAL plans to strengthen health systems through a sustainable training model, build healthcare worker capacity, promote skills underpinned by technology and innovation, build resilient communities, achieve equitable health, and empower youth. Project VITAL will leverage telehealth to enhance health equity by increasing access to specialists, enabling peer-to-peer consultations, providing tele-education, facilitating rapid triage, and identifying epidemics. “We are privileged to be making a commitment at CGI,” said Jarone Lee, co-founder of HTWB.
Over 30 million people need humanitarian assistance and mental health support in conflict and climate-affected regions of Cameroon and the Sahel Region. West and Central African regions have the highest maternal mortality rates globally while suffering from the effects of climate change, including extreme heat, drought, degradation of agriculture, and security challenges. Overall, this leads to displaced populations with poor and worsening access to healthcare. In 2015, Africa had around 1.3 health workers per 1,000 people, significantly less than the 4.5 needed to meet the United Nations’ goals for sustainable access to healthcare. Telehealth provides equitable, quality, and cost-effective care with the potential to improve equitable access to quality health services.
"Access to quality health services should not be a luxury, especially for those affected by climate change in the Sahel region. We are grateful for the opportunity CGI has given us to share our vision of using technology to transform health services and ensure that no one in Africa is left behind," said Yap Boum, founder of iDocta.
Project VITAL’s other partners include Institut Pasteur of Bangui, Central Africa Republic; Reach Out Cameroon; Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Global Health and Medical Device Interoperability & Cybersecurity Program (MD PnP); Boston Medical Center/Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine.
About Health Tech Without Borders, Inc.
Health Tech Without Borders, Inc. (HTWB) is a global non-profit organization that supports local communities affected by sudden humanitarian emergencies via digital tools. As an innovation hub, HTWB collaborates with international public and private partners to provide access to care and health education to those afflicted by conflict and climate change. HTWB focuses on supporting any person affected by humanitarian disasters while remaining non-sectarian and apolitical. Learn more at https://www.htwb.org
About iDocta
iDocta is a social innovation company specializing in the digitalization of medical services and the digital transformation of the health system in Cameroon and Africa. The goal of iDocta is to create a digital platform that will first bring together all the expertise in the field of medicine in Africa and its diaspora and serve as a bridge to traditional medicine. Our goal is to create the most prominent virtual clinic in Africa to ensure no one is left behind. Follow us on https://www.facebook.com/IDocta/
About VSee
VSee makes fast digital health transformations possible with its versatile no code, low code telehealth platform. It offers a comprehensive set of flexible building blocks from patient queuing, triage, scheduling, telehealth visits, remote monitoring, to many other medical workflows that seamlessly integrate with electronic health records, siloed data and programs, and an analytics dashboard for healthcare organizations to quickly and efficiently create customizable virtual and hybrid healthcare experiences. VSee has offered its deep engineering and industry expertise for over 15 years, partnering with healthcare enterprises, governments, universities, research institutions to increase access to high quality healthcare. VSee serves over 1,000 healthcare clients globally including McKesson, GE Health, Optum, DaVita, and NASA Space Station. Learn more at https://vsee.com
About the Clinton Global Initiative
Founded by President Bill Clinton in 2005, the Clinton Global Initiative is a community of doers representing a broad cross section of society and dedicated to the idea that we can accomplish more together than we can apart. Through CGI’s unique model, more than 9,000 organizations have launched more than 3,900 Commitments to Action — new, specific, and measurable projects and programs.