eHealth Hackathon: 50 learners from 13 countries come together in Abidjan

11/01/2024

From December 4 to 7, the 50 students from the 5th year group of the “Innovation and Practices in the field of Health” eHealth inter-university program met in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, for a hackathon.

This inter-university program was created in 2018 to meet a need for training specially adapted to sub-Saharan African contexts. It is the fruit of a partnership between the University of Sciences, Techniques, and Technologies of Bamako, the Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar, the Félix Houphouët Boigny University of Abidjan, and the Fondation Pierre Fabre, a strategic partner in the selection of candidates and which supports learners through scholarships.

Its objectives are to develop innovations aligned with countries’ healthcare strategies, and to cultivate know-how for coherent, rigorous, sustainable and evidence-based development of eHealth tools for the benefit of populations.

The aim of this hackathon was to bring together a year group from 13 countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Mali, Mauritania, Madagascar, Mauritania, Senegal, Togo and Tunisia) and encourage a competitive spirit for working, within a limited timeframe, to build a prototype of a suitable healthcare solution.

This year’s winning project is “Equalbi”, a multi-functional platform for fair access to healthcare and services for people with albinism.

The training will continue with distance learning thanks to the technical support of the Réseau en Afrique Francophone pour la Télémédecine (RAFT – Telemedicine network in French-speaking Africa) and the Université Numérique Francophone Mondiale (UNFM – World Francophone e-University).