MatchAProAdvancing Inclusive Healthcare Through Tech

By Lorraine Kinnear

In the last few years, we have seen an accelerated digital shift in healthcare delivery, thanks to a wave of technologies combined with the desire of many people around the world to help people regardless of their location. The digital connection between clinicians and patients necessitates new private-public partnerships (PPPs) to enable the technology, as well as new ideas to assist those in need. Recent times have also exposed the disparity between those who could and could not access connected care. Innovators are working hard to use technology to bridge the gap in access to many services, particularly medical care.

Tuduetso Masire, the force behind MatchAPro is contributing to the development of future healthcare solutions by drawing inspiration from a personal challenge. MatchAPro is a platform that links surgeons looking to perform pro-Bono procedures in Southern Africa with local public hospitals. Tuduetso and her network of partners wish to simply close a gap by providing a simple solution and that is accessible and user- friendly.

Tuduetso Masire grew up in Gaborone, Botswana. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and International Business from Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, United States, and recently completed her Master of Science in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Southern California (USC) (MSEI).

During her time at USC, she began developing MatchAPro in her venture initiation class and competed in the New Venture Seed Competition (NVSC), finishing in the top six and receiving a Bronze and Social Impact Award. Following NVSC, she was chosen as a Blackstone New Venture Fellow for the summer of 2022 via USC's Blackstone launchpad. Tuduetso advanced to the Semi-Finals of USC's Athena Woman in Entrepreneurship Competition and was competitively selected as a candidate for USC's Viterbi School of Engineering MIN Family challenge for $50,000, which is aimed at startups that are solving problems that address the UN's 17 sustainability goals for 2030 and will run until April 2023.

“MatchAPro, is an online platform that is supposed to match surgeons willing to travel to Southern Africa to do pro-Bono procedures, on patients in public hospitals in the region. The patients we refer to in this context are those in public hospitals who find themselves on the backlog list,” cites Tuduetso, when asked to shed light on how MatchAPro works

“For instance, you may find someone gets diagnosed with a condition in Princess Marina Hospital or any public hospital in the region you can think of, and they are told that they can only get the procedure they need to be done in the next year. That would be a candidate for MatchAPro. So, our patients can only be matched with a Pro through the public health system, particularly the hospitals that usually have backlogs,” she adds

MatchAPro especially focuses on people who have been diagnosed with chronic or critical conditions such that every week they wait could mean something more detrimental to their health. The functionality of the platform is meant to be simple so that people in the health systems can easily navigate through it.

The inspiration behind the formation of MatchAPro

“What inspired me to create such a platform was having lived in the United States for so long, but also being from Botswana. I spent a lot of time at home while living abroad and I come home quite frequently. There were instances when I would be home and need medical care at home and they are just certain things that used to happen that I found quite unfortunate, like when I used to get bad cluster headaches,” recalls Tuduetso

She says she had to go to different doctors to make sure that the headaches weren't associated with any other illnesses, for example perhaps a tumor or anything that could be more serious and taking place within the brain.

“I had to go through a lot of testing and diagnostics. Local institutions wouldn’t find anything, and it would almost always happen that I get referred to neighbouring South Africa.:

It was these gaps that showed her the opportunity for creating this intervention, as she considered what the experience would be like forpeople who cannot afford to seek a second opinion or do surgery in another country.

“I started doing research on what happens in a situation where an individual doesn't have medical aid and can't cover something like an MRI in a different country or can’t pool the resources to fight off something like childhood cancer” Tuduetso shares

“Before MatchAPro was even laid out on paper, I researched on the systems in place for these types of situations. I interviewed different health professionals in the country and the majority had limited information in terms of what happens in those instances.”

Immediately she recognised a pattern that guideher to work harder on MatchAPro. Understanding that medical health professionals, especially in the United States health systems are always eager to do pro-Bono work abroad, it became a challenge-meets-solution venture and she decided to invest a lot more in learnings and understanding how everything would work on the ground.

Getting to a hospital and finding out you must wait for the next available doctor to read your results could be a thing of the past. In Botswana, there are Doctors in health institutions, but certain specialties have a shortage and that can be the difference between a person making the medical care they need or not making it. MatchAPro is essen- tially in place to bridge that gap. This gap being closed will hopefully benefit other areas of the country’s development, such as, the economy being stable because more people are able to get medical care faster and can then get back to work and contribute to the welfare of their families.

MatchAPro’s key function

MatchAPro’s core business is to try and mitigate the imbalance that patients have of medical specialties in the country. In Botswana there are many medical professionals but a lot of the specialised ones prefer to go abroad, creating a gap in the public health system. The ones that stay in the country find themselves overwhelmed by patients needing specialised care or lagging in the latest technology because the infrastructure in the country does not quite support it. For the few specialised professionals, there is just a lot to deal with. They may not always be in a position to handle all the demands by themselves, so MatchAPro is an intervention and support – a complement to the public health system in its current state.

“MatchAPro surgeons and doctors will not do procedures or interventions on any patient that could be done by a local provider in the public, in the public health system. Therefore, MatchApro is not here to replace what is already in place but to complement it. MatchAPro is currently in its Beta phase and a lot is being invested to tighten up internal systems. By the time we launch later in 2023 we would have had to make sure that this platform would be of benefit to the region,” says Tuduetso

MATCHAPRO PLATFORM’S UNIQUE VALUE PROPOSITION:

Ease of access: Doctors can widen their reach and seamlessly deliver quality care to underserved patients in Southern Africa. With robust vetting and verification process, one is able to access a list of patients in need based on their location and the medical care required. If you are in the field specified you can process your application to serve communities that might otherwise be disadvantaged by under-resourced healthcare systems. Furthermore, this platform will enable easier communication with qualified and verified doctors from the United States.

Health system optimisation: Hospitals can improve their healthcare systems and provide world-class expertise for their patients. Some surgeons may travel with cutting-edge medical devices in cases where the device is; portable, unavailable in the region, and necessary to optimize procedures/results. This platform will create ease in referrals for patients seeking surgical intervention to surgeons from the United States (hopefully other regions as well once we establish vetting regulations) traveling to the region by simply adding them to our ‘patients’ portal.

Addressing a real need: MatchAPro strives to make healthcare available where it is most needed. MatchAPro's mission is to save lives by tapping into already existing match-making algorithms that are currently used on platforms such as Uber, Tinder, or Task Rabbit; just tweaked to connect traveling surgeons from the United States to underserved patients in public hospitals in Southern Africa. MatchAPro also intends to reach the entire Southern African Development Community (SADC) by 2030.

MatchAPro provides a tremendous opportunity to the communities and the wider Southern Africa. It will help those who are unserved or underserved. Designing health technologies that improve healthcare access and support grander health equity goals, such as strengthening healthcare systems and achieving universal health coverage by 2030, necessitates being consciously inclusive throughout the innovation process. This means designing with a common goal in mind, and co-creating solutions that are sustainable, equitable, and scalable.

There is no such thing as a onesize-fits-all solution. Every community has its own set of factors to consider, and designing healthcare solutions varies depending on where one is and what that particular region needs. To solve complex problems and deliver more meaningful results, a truly collaborative, people-first approach is required and MatchAPro is fully committed to aligning to an inclusive, solution-focused, and people-first approach.