J2 Retail Systems helps to improve health in the developing world

Baobab Health Trust Malawi makes the J2 580 its clinical workstation

J2 has entered the international healthcare market and brought the benefits of its technical innovation to a new industry sector.

The company has today revealed details of the work it is doing in Malawi, supplying its PC-based touchscreen computers to support the work of the Baobab Health Trust.

Baobab Health Trust (www.baobabhealth.org) is a non-government organisation, based in Malawi’s capital city of Lilongwe. It provides health care information and communication systems in conjunction with government and health care workers. The Trust collaborates with the state Ministry of Health and also with Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Trust for the deployment of systems to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Blantyre for their Surveillance Programme of In-Patients and Epidemiology (SPINE) Project.

With the purchase funded by the Liverpool Malawi Wellcome Trust, Baobab has selected the J2 580 as its clinical workstation. This fanless touchscreen machine, connected to a barcode scanner and printer, is deployed in each ward including the TB patient ward, and is linked to the HIV ART Clinic.

“The J2s are helping Baobab to improve healthcare in Malawi. We expect to support over 7,000 patients with the system in this project for 2010 alone!” says Sabine Joukes, Country Director for Baobab Health Trust Malawi.

The system records, tracks and manages in-patient care and appointment data, with easy retrieval by use of barcoding. The system interfaces with the Baobab Anti-Retroviral Treatment (ART) Clinic application. By providing information on patients who are or have been on such treatment, the system aids doctors in their diagnosis and prescription. Comprehensive statistics and reporting on patients, their ailments and their treatment are also provided for government health management purposes.

J2 Retail Systems’ Business Development Director for Southern Europe and Africa, Christina Fielvard, is based in Malawi. As she explains, “J2 takes its corporate social responisibility very seriously. Here in Malawi, one of the poorest countries of the world and where J2 has offices, it has chosen to help to improve local healthcare by working with Baobab. It’s J2’s way of giving something back to society.”

Baobab’s selection of the J2 580 was influenced by a number of factors. Continues Christina: “Given challenging operating conditions, Baobab needed a machine that would not be subject to mechanical breakdown or damage through physical shock, overheating or parts failure. The fanless J2 580 is virtually maintenance-free and has a reputation for coping in harsh and dusty environments.”

The necessity to send desktop computers for repair is particularly expensive and time-consuming in Malawi where there is a lack of qualified repair facilities and limited capacity within government departments to maintain their own equipment. Baobab were reassured by J2’s 3-year manufacturer’s warranty and by the J2 580’s proven resilience and durability. With computers particularly vulnerable to theft in Malawi, another advantage of the J2 580 is that it can be secured within a steel casing.

Concludes Christina Fielvard: “As much of Baobab’s work relies on donor funds, the Trust needed to choose equipment which would stand the test of time in a hostile environment with minimum maintenance. Baobab was able to demonstrate the low cost of ownership of the J2 580 to the Liverpool Malawi Wellcome Trust.”