Readers may have heard of bitcoin, an unregulated cryptocurrency – or digital currency – created in 2009 that became very popular amongst users attempting to get rich by trading it. One of bitcoin’s main features is that parties can use it to buy merchandise anonymously and make transactions without other parties in between, i.e. banks. In creating bitcoin, the pseudonym, Satoshi Nakamoto, needed to also create an underlying technology that would support its transactions. This is “blockchain technology,” a “shared and immutable” digital ledger that has since been applied in numerous fields beyond cryptocurrency – namely, healthcare access.
Just this February, it was made public that the world’s first “blockchain baby” was registered in Tanzania in July 2018. The Irish medical project Aid:Tech started a project for pre-natal care, attempting to efficiently and transparently connect underprivileged mothers with adequate medical care. Aid:Tech partnered with the PharmAccess Foundation and assigned unique digital ID’s to pregnant mothers in Tanzania. The project showed that blockchain could be used to keep a secure digital record of things other than bitcoin. By inputting the pregnant mothers’ ID’s into the blockchain, Aid:Tech successfully established a lifelong digital link between the identities of mother and child, and helped these women create their own personal medical profiles using data collected from every visit to a clinic – which is also added to the blockchain.
Image Source: Randy Plett
Pregnant women on this blockchain are tracked from registration through all medical appointments up until the birth of their child. The second and third babies arrived successfully just six days after the first baby registered on blockchain was delivered on July 13th, 2018.
The blockchain project marks a big step forward for maternal and neonatal health in Tanzania. Obstacles such as lack of access to emergency obstetric care keep maternal mortality rates high, according to the USAID 2018 Tanzania Maternal and Child Health Fact Sheet. There is also the issue of ensuring healthcare funds from donors reach the intended recipients, as charitable organizations have experienced multiple cases of fraud. Aid:Tech CEO and co-founder Joseph Thompson started the project with his own experiences in mind of donations getting “lost” rather than helping those who needed it most.
Aid:Tech was founded in 2014 and is now the world’s very first company to use blockchain technology to give international aid.
Feature Image Source: vjkombajn.
