The PLANET Health pilot is a collaboration between the Open Learning Exchange (OLE), Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST), and the Bugoye Health Clinic (BHC III) . The goal is to expand in-service learning opportunities for rural Village Health Workers. OLE raised an initial round of funding from the Yahoo Employee Foundation that brought the program to 2 villages (April 2017 launch). We seek your support to scale the program.
Thousands of Village Health Teams (VHT) in Uganda provide health extension support services in rural areas. However, most VHT members have limited education and lack in depth knowledge and skills related to wellness among people living in impoverish conditions. As a result they are only able to provide the most basic health services. Well-trained health care providers are scarce and there is a near total lack of accurate and timely demographic data concerning a community's health status.
The PLANET Health pilot will provide VHT's in remote Ugandan villages with a digital learning system that includes a multimedia library, personalized courseware, learning, assessment tools, and data health outcome reporting capability to regional health clinics. The pilot will deliver complete PLANET systems that include a local RPi servers, tablets, peripherals, and instruction in the use of the technology coupled with in depth courses to support improved health outcomes.
The long-term outcomes of the PLANET Health pilot will be to demonstrate the effectiveness of deploying low cost mobile learning systems that function off the Internet for village health workers in remote locations. This program a) helps the village health workers improve their knowledge and skills, b) provides learning resources for villagers of all ages including basic literacy; and c) connects villages to their regional health clinic enabling improved responsiveness to the health conditions.
