Pictured: Dr. Richard Gakuba with Holly Ladd mHealth Pioneer Award.
The OpenHIE community would like to congratulate Dr. Richard Gakuba, of the Rwanda HIE initiative, for receiving the mHealth Alliance’s Holly Ladd mHealth Pioneer Award. On Monday December 9th, at the 5th annual mHealth Summit, Dr. Gakuba was named the recipient of this year’s award. The Holly Ladd mHealth Pioneer Award recognizes an individual who advances sustainable solutions for personal and community health empowerment through the use of mobile technology.
This award recognizes Dr.Gakuba’s as Rwanda’s National eHealth Coordinator for the Ministry of Health, a role he has held since 2005. His vision has helped to create and implement Rwanda’s national e-Health strategy goal of improving the effectiveness of health care delivery and making services scalable and affordable to Rwanda.
“FHI 360 is honored to support the Holly Ladd mHealth Pioneer Award this year,” said Albert J. Siemens, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of FHI 360. “The award acknowledges Holly’s vision of how communication technology can transform the lives of millions of people around the globe. It celebrates her outstanding leadership and passion that have been an inspiration for so many.” (Quote from www.prweb.com)
One of the more recent eHealth initiatives led by Dr. Gakuba and partners include the Rwanda Health Information Exchange (RHIE) which is the first known electronic, health information exchange in Africa. RHIE is the first implementation of the OpenHIE architecture providing the ability for health centers and hospitals to connect and communicate by sharing patient information through a secure network. RHIE is currently implemented in 11 of 14 health centers in Rwamagana District, specifically focusing on antenatal care. As the final health centers in Rwamagana District and the district hospital are connected, RHIE will expand to include different care services including maternity, HIV, TB, etc.
To read more about the Holly Ladd mHealth Pioneer Award go to www.prweb.com