We’re halfway through our Year of Migrant Health initiative!

As we enter the second half of our Year of Migrant Health initiative, we are excited to celebrate the progress of our grantees thus far and reflect on some lessons learned! 

In February, we launched our first ever grant initiative to provide 8 clinical organizations around the world with funding to implement the Hikma Health system, an electronic health record (EHR) designed for low-resource settings. Though our technology has and always will be free and open-source, we recognized that many clinical organizations need additional support to overcome some of the upfront costs associated with launching new technology.

Over the last six months, we have worked with each of our 8 grantees to understand their unique needs, provided guidance on finding technical talent to customize and deploy the system to meet those unique needs, and supported each organization’s technical lead through regular office hours with Hikma Health’s CTO.

At the end of the first half of the funding cycle, we met with our grantees to review their progress, celebrate successes, and discuss challenges. We are excited to share that as of July, two grantees have deployed the Hikma Health system and have it in active use by their clinicians in the field!

MedGlobal has one of its humanitarian clinical operations in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, where their clinicians primarily serve Rohingya refugees and other pregnant and postpartum women. After completing staff and stakeholder training in April, the MedGlobal team deployed the Hikma Health system and has used it to capture the medical records of over 3,000 patients so far. In reflecting on how the Hikma Health system has transformed their operations so far, clinicians shared that having a digital system has enabled the recordkeeping process to be “quick, fast and secure.”

Clinician at MedGlobal receiving training on the Hikma Health system. Credit: MedGlobal 2022.

Saglamliga Khidmat Public Union (SKPU) in Baku City, Azerbaijan serves over 2,000 patients a year from diverse backgrounds, including refugees and internally displaced people. SKPU provides vital care to people living with tuberculosis, HIV, and a number of other chronic conditions. SKPU conducted training in June for its clinical staff and other national tuberculosis physicians in the community. In July, SKPU deployed the Hikma Health system in the field and has collected nearly 200 patient records thus far, providing patients with faster, more reliable, and more personalized care.

Three of our grantees are currently in the development phase of the deployment, working on customizing the Hikma Health system to fit their specific contexts. These organizations, Blue Mission Organization in Lebanon, Refugee Health Alliance in Mexico, and Diabetes Programs Promotion Organization in Sudan, are finalizing their customizations and aim to deploy their systems in the next month!

One of the significant challenges each grantee has had to address is sourcing technical talent to manage the development and deployment of the technology. Effective customization of our open-source software requires specific skills in software development. Many grantees have opted to source local talent rather than work with an offshore developer. While this enables them to support local software workers with a stronger understanding of their unique contexts, this process can take substantially longer to ensure they find the right person with the requisite skills to effectively deploy the technology. Our other three grantees, Ibrahim Khan Jhagra Foundation in Pakistan, Roberto Clemente Health Clinic in Nicaragua, and Juba Foundation in Somalia are still in the process of finalizing their selection and contracts with their technical leads. We look forward to supporting them in this process and are excited for them to begin the development phase shortly!

We are grateful to have the opportunity to connect regularly with leaders in these organizations across the world and build an understanding of the challenges each is experiencing. From social and political unrest to software bugs, each grantee has had to navigate a number of setbacks while balancing many competing priorities to continue to push forward the YMH project in their organizations. Through the process, we at Hikma Health have learned a lot about how to smooth the process for our grantees, including overcoming administrative hurdles with disbursing funds, adapting to shifting timelines, and balancing reporting requirements with organizational capacity for our grantees. 

We are thrilled with the progress our grantees are making and are optimistic that each one will deploy their customized version of the Hikma Health system this fall. As new challenges inevitably arise, we look forward to collaborating with each organization’s team to overcome these challenges. Each of these 8 organizations’ commitment to their communities inspires us to continue our efforts in making healthcare accessible for all through free and open-source digital health solutions. 

Lastly, thank you to all of our supporters and donors who have made this Year of Migrant Health initiative possible. We look forward to sharing more updates in the months ahead!