mCare - digital health hub

About mCare - digital health hub

Concern Worldwide - in partnership with Digital Health Solutions, mPower, and SAJIDA Foundation - aims to transform pharmacies into “health hubs” using the joint mCare and Digital Hospital platform, allowing remote care provision in the community. The platform is for local pharmacy owners to connect individuals remotely with primary health care doctors (supplied by Digital Healthcare Solutions). 
According to WHO data2, the country counted 2,109 infections per 1 million inhabitants in September 2020, while the number of unreported cases is likely to be much higher. Especially in poor and rural areas, the impact on the health system and livelihoods has been profound.  
 
Many rural areas of Bangladesh are traditionally suffering from lack of access to health services.
Infectious disease prevention products, including masks, soap and disinfectant, are in many areas in short supply. Furthermore, the treatment of other communicable diseases or injuries is also hampered. The community health workers, healthcare centers and rural pharmacies present in those areas often struggle with the larger number of patients turning to them as the first and only point of contact to health services. They lack the skills, equipment, and patient referral linkages to conduct a first medical check-up and refer critical cases to the right specialists in the system.  
In addition, the disruption of value chains and market access caused by the pandemic puts at risk the incomes and livelihoods of rural families. A large fraction of rural inhabitants are poor, and are at increased risk of acute malnutrition and hunger due to the crisis. However, as the present crisis situation has limited access to health services, moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) and severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in children can remain undiagnosed and untreated. Malnutrition of children increases their risk to develop severe and fatal cases of infectious diseases and can lead to long-term development impairment.   
In these circumstances, women entrepreneurs, organized through Women’s Business Centres (WBCs), within the United Purpose Network, are uniquely positioned to fill these gaps with relevant and accurate information
Over 250 WBCs, through which rural women entrepreneurs, producers and local service providers are linked together, have been established by United Purpose across Bangladesh. The rural communities where WBCs are placed are among the poorest regions of Bangladesh and include the areas and communities most vulnerable to economic and climatic volatility. These WBCs have served not only as hubs for agricultural training, innovation and marketing, but also as places for rural women to sell their products, develop leadership capacity and build support networks.
Recognized by their communities as trusted sources of information and quality products, WBCs have already begun to fill critical gaps during the pandemic, providing an outlet for crop sales, advice information and prevention practices. Expanding this support is therefore a logical step and one which will have a rapid impact for tens of thousands of women and their families.