Yesterday 22nd October Macro-eyes announced that it will implement the Connected Health Artificial Intelligence Network (CHAIN) project in Sierra Leone to enable health systems to better respond to COVID-19 and provide essential care. According to the Micro-eye official website, the aim of macro-eyes’ technology is to enable health systems to deliver more care with existing scarce resources. Through CHAIN, macro-eyes has built a machine learning system that predicts vaccine utilisation at the facility, district, and regional levels. The predictive supply chain for vaccines offers 96% reduction in vaccine misallocation.
Pioneering CHAIN technology generates real-time views into equipment, staff and supplies, enabling health facilities to proactively prepare for shifts in demand and best allocate resources. The AI technology will be adopted across Sierra Leone through partnership with the Ministry of Health and Sanitation and the Directorate of Science, Technology, and Innovation led by Dr. David Moinina Sengeh, Education Minister and Chief Innovation Officer.
Governments assess health systems to understand the state of existing infrastructure. CHAIN revolutionises the way assessments are done: faster, more accurate, and responsive to change on the ground. By combining publicly available data, facility-specific information and direct input from health workers, CHAIN rapidly determines the facility’s readiness to effectively care for COVID patients and deliver essential medical care.
The technology allows leaders to virtually step inside any facility, assess equipment and staff, and scan capabilities of a region – without leaving their desk. Sierra Leone will be the first of many countries to view real-time capacity at current levels and identify where and when resources will have the greatest impact.
“The macro-eyes framework for rapidly assessing health facilities should play a valuable role in the effective allocation of COVID-19 therapeutics and vaccines,” says Dr. Ramkumar Hariharan, Director of Applied AI at Macro-eyes. “This technology delivers intelligence on where to distribute essential health goods like vaccines to most effectively reach key populations.”
AI offers the ability to address problems before they occur. By looking into the future to predict demand and capacity, AI buys time.
Ophaniel Gooding