Four startups to explore South Africa’s health challenges

The third edition of MIRAHI  will bring together selected Swiss startups with local partners from the South African healthcare system empowering them to establish collaborations tackle systemic healthcare challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa. the program will additionally provide grants to facilitate validation or scaling up.

Neosens – developed and patented a diagnostic device that employs artificial intelligence to combine the detection of biomarkers with clinical signs analysis to combat the misdiagnosing of sepsis in newborns, a life-threatening disease affecting around two million babies globally each year due to an over-active immune response, generally following a bacterial infection. In low and middle-income countries, around 12 percent of newborns are overtreated every year due to sepsis suspicion, causing a financial strain on the healthcare system. The startup’s low-cost biosensor, Neosens, will aim to explore applications in the South African market for this challenge to enable better diagnosis.

AllesHealth – is developing a digital health platform to foster inclusiveness and diversity in clinical trials with patient-centricity at the core. It achieves this by empowering patients from all backgrounds to share their medical insights to allow clinical research organizations to access data from a diverse population to further their research, thus paving the way to personalized treatment options.  

MOMM Diagnostics - specialises in rapid diagnostic tests for the detection and prognosis of preeclampsia, a dangerous pregnancy condition. The solution provides a novel point-of-care technology with superior analytical sensitivity, which simplifies blood testing procedures and assists doctors on-site to save the lives of mothers and babies.

Zario – provides a digital wellbeing app that helps people reduce and replace unwanted screentime. The app uses the latest psychology research to create engaging challenges in the real world to help reduce and replace unhealthy screen time consumption. Downloading the free app is the first step to changing digital habits.

The program is run with partners from several African countries together with the University of Basel Innovation Office, the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), and the broader Swiss innovation ecosystem. Example partners are the Healthtech Hub Africa and Ifakara Health Institute Innovation Hub Partners, who have been selected based on their ability to facilitate insight into healthcare challenges and engage with startups.

(RAN)
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