Credit: Goodlife Pharmacy
A trusted place for moms and babies to thrive
How do I give my child the best start in life? It is a question that mothers ask themselves in the first 1,000 days of a baby’s life – an important window of opportunity for good nutrition and healthcare.
Yet, accurate information and guidance can be difficult to access. A trusted doctor or nurse may be too expensive or too far away to visit, with long waiting times and crowded waiting rooms. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and country lockdowns, basic health services can be more challenging to reach. When a mom is awake all night with a crying baby, who can she turn to?
Eighty percent of people in East Africa will first access their pharmacy for healthcare and guidance – a professional and trusted health service option that is often more affordable, closer to reach and less taxing in terms of waiting times.
Supported by THINKMD’s clinical intelligence technology, which helps a user identify how sick a person is, what illness they may have and what appropriate next steps to take, Goodlife Pharmacy will now offer moms and their babies in-house clinical assessments. This will give moms accurate and trusted guidance and information so that they know whether or not they or their baby is sick, what the risks are, what medication they may need, as well as if they should be referred to a doctor or a nurse for further assessment. Goodlife Pharmacy, which has over 70 stores in both Kenya and Uganda, will offer the service in 37 stores across the two countries. The Goodlife Pharmacy website will also allow moms to assess themselves or their babies remotely.
“Goodlife Pharmacy’s vision is to be the first-choice primary healthcare and wellness provider in Eastern Africa. Moms and babies are top priority, with research showing that the first three years of life are critical for building strong immune systems and supporting healthy physical and intellectual development,” says Amaan Khalfan, CEO of Goodlife Pharmacy. “Our pharmacists will now have the skills and tools to support moms and babies so that they can make informed healthcare decisions thereafter.”
THINKMD, a social impact company, founded by doctors, has partnered with NGOs across the globe for several years, such as Save The Children and Healthy Learners, to support access to health for moms, babies and school-aged children. The technology has been scientifically proven to produce clinical assessments and triage recommendations that correlate up to 95% to that of a physician’s assessment. Unlike binary symptom checking mHealth tools, the technology considers a variety of clinical data points and assesses over 200 potential clinical risks.
“Goodlife Pharmacy has a track record of high quality service delivery, while upholding integrity and high ethical standards, which is exactly what THINKMD seeks out in partnerships. By using our clinical intelligence technology, we firmly believe that Goodlife Pharmacy can accelerate access to healthcare across the region in an affordable and convenient way, alleviating some of the stress and worry that so many new moms face,” says Barry Finette, CEO and co-founder of THINKMD.
The integrated clinical assessments are available in select stores from 24 May 2021.