Telkom Kenya and Baobab Circle, a health tech start-up, have partnered together to launch a mobile health application that will see a reduction in increasing diabetes and high blood pressure cases across the country.
The application, dubbed “Afya Pap”, will be exclusively available to Telkom subscribers through the USSD Code *727# at 4 shillings a day and it will offer daily, customized tips on managing diabetes and high blood pressure conditions.
Some of its benefits include daily personalised health tips that educate users on all elements of a healthy lifestyle, including diet, physical activity, sexual health and mental wellness; a measurement tool that allows users to understand, store and retrieve their blood sugar and blood pressure readings; data that remains confidential, as well as access to a team of nutritionists, doctors, nurses and sports scientists, through direct questions.
Dr. Precious Lunga, Baobab Circle CEO, explains that the partnership, a first in the Kenyan health and technology landscape, seeks to address global fears and predictions of high blood pressure and diabetes as leading causes of death globally, by the year 2020.
“At Baobab Circle we’re committed to tackling this head-on by addressing the gaps that currently exist in modern medicine and empowering our users to do the best for their health by equipping them with the tools and information that they need. We are proud to be launching this service alongside Telkom and cannot wait to see the good we can do for the people of Kenya together,” said Dr. Lunga.
Amer Atwi, Telkom’s MD for its Mobile Division, said that Afya Pap marks the first dedicated health mobile service to be supported by Telkom, post its rebrand and consequent commitment to deepen technological partnerships that enable lives.
“Our steady investment in technology that is geared to improve Kenyan lives, extends our ability to tap into the power of our services, to make a demonstrable difference in many areas of our customers’ lives. Afya Pap offers a breakthrough consultative solution that will change the way diabetes and hypertension health care is delivered in Kenya,” Mr. Atwi concluded.
The mobile application can be downloaded from the Google Play Store.