Heidelberg University Hospital Partners with SAP to Improve the Health and Well-Being of Underprivileged Patients

First-of-Its-Kind Mobile App for Cancer Screening Developed with SAP Cloud Platform
by Lauren Bonneau, Managing Editor | insiderPROFILES, Volume 8, Issue 2

March 31, 2017

Every year, 500,000 women worldwide are newly diagnosed with cervical cancer.  To help prevent this disease, Heidelberg University Hospital developed a project using a biomarker that would help determine if a woman infected with HPV was at risk for developing cancer, enabling early, life-saving treatment for that woman. But reaching women in developing countries to screen them for cancer was a challenge. Learn how Heidelberg University Hospital, in conjunction with SAP’s Design and Co-Innovation Center, built a mobile app on SAP Cloud Platform that enabled the research group to test underprivileged women for cancer and, ultimately, save lives.  

 In the more industrially and technologically advanced countries of the western world, access to medical testing and treatment is not a major concern for most of the population. Residents live in relatively close proximity to doctors’ offices and hospitals, can easily obtain necessary medicines, and have regular appointments with health professionals. However, that is not the case for populations living in the world’s less-developed countries. There, the nearest local health center can often be more than a day’s journey by foot, the clinics’ staff have overwhelming caseloads with little time to devote to each patient, and the infrastructure is generally rudimentary and fragile.

One of the most common types of cancer in women worldwide is cervical cancer — with 500,000 new diagnoses each year. To date, nearly all instances of cervical cancer are a result of infections of the human papillomavirus (HPV). A vaccine has been developed to prevent HPV infection and is used frequently in the westernized countries; however, due to poor access to screening and treatment services, more than 90% of deaths from cervical cancer occur among women living in developing countries. In these areas of the world, it’s very difficult for medical personnel to identify and reach the people who need their attention.

To help overcome this disastrous situation, Heidelberg University Hospital — a prestigious medical center in Germany with a reputation based on excellent patient care, research, and teaching — discovered a way to determine which patients are at risk for cervical cancer. “A biomarker was developed a couple years ago, which is now in clinical trials for use in cervical cancer screening technologies, that allows us to identify — among these many women affected by HPV — exactly who are at risk of developing cancer as a consequence of that virus,” says Professor Magnus von Knebel Doeberitz, Medical Director, Department of Applied Tumor Biology, Institute of Pathology at the University of Heidelberg.

Even though HPV infections are widespread — the virus is so common that nearly all sexually active women will contract it at some point in their lives — only a small percentage of those infected will develop symptoms that a doctor will have to treat. Most of the infections simply clear by themselves, and the molecular changes that are required to trigger cancer development don’t happen. So the challenge is identifying exactly where the infections don’t go away and determining which women need immediate medical attention. Considering the enormous population of affected women living in the rural regions of the world, this is no small task.

“In the emerging world, particularly in Africa, the lack of infrastructure makes it difficult to defeat this type of cancer, so it is important to develop innovative screening technologies that we can apply in less privileged areas,” says von Knebel Doeberitz. “Once we had this biomarker that helped us to identify woman at risk, we started thinking about how to use technology to improve that situation where roughly nothing is available — no microscopes or laboratory facilities — so women living in those areas can benefit from the same high-tech medicine as the western world.”

The Emerging Technologies in Cervical Cancer Screening (ETiCCS) research project came about as a result, with the goal to promote global cervical cancer awareness and prevention through science, capacity building, and technology transfer. The pilot program was rolled out in Kenya, Africa — where the goal was to recruit women older than 25 years at health facilities for a cervical cancer screening study — and it was soon discovered that the screening process was rife with manual activities and a significant paper trail. As the project progressed, healthcare and IT experts from SAP joined forces with Heidelberg University Hospital to leverage IT solutions in ways that were not possible previously and to deliver medical technology to people who previously did not have access to it. “SAP is committed to improving peoples’ lives, and that’s why we see the ETiCCS project as a great opportunity for a close collaboration with Heidelberg University Hospital in the healthcare sector,” says Michael Byczkowski, ETiCCS Executive Sponsor and Vice President of Customer Design Experience at SAP. A series of iterative Design Thinking workshops and onsite user observations led to a first-of-its-kind mobile, cloud-based solution that significantly accelerated and simplified the screening approach. The mobile solution leveraged SAP Cloud Platform to provide study data online and in real time, so researchers can derive the most recent results out of the sample data without having to wait until the conclusion of the study for analysis.

“Using the biomarkers in the ETiCCS program, our digitized laboratory method can perform the cervical cancer test within a couple of days, but in Africa, it can be challenging to communicate with the lab analyzing the samples and inform the patients of the results,” says von Knebel Doeberitz. “That’s a major benefit of using SAP Cloud Platform to transfer that information back to the appropriate parties fast.”

Another challenge was the existing infrastructure at the health facilities in Kenya. “Because all the communication had been paper-based and involved duplicating handwritten information, it was difficult to extract important data,” says Dr. Hermann Bussmann, ETiCCS Project Lead, Department of Applied Tumor Biology, Institute of Pathology at the University of Heidelberg. “The ETiCCS program can revolutionize how these facilities operate, even in the most remote areas.”

Identifying and Reaching Those in Need

This pilot of the ETiCCS project consisted of a one-year study, which is currently ongoing, involving two local health centers and the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, Kenya. The goal of the study is to recruit 800 women at these local health centers in Eldoret, which is a growing urban center where internet access and cellular phone use are more common than in the rural regions of Kenya. The digitized screening process involves a cloud-based tablet app that collects all relevant information and is accessible to different researchers globally. Once the women agree to participate in the study and cell samples are taken, the screening results are analyzed at a laboratory, sent to a doctor in the hospital for further review and management, and also shared with the lead researcher located in Heidelberg University Hospital. All the information gathered is accessible by the different roles of the research project — recruiter, nurse, lab technician, doctor, and researcher — and available via SAP Cloud Platform.

The three main sponsors and stakeholders from the medical side of the ETiCCS project (L to R): Professor Magnus von Knebel Doeberitz from Heidelberg University Hospital; Doctor Elkanah Omenge from Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital; and Doctor Hermann Bussmann from Heidelberg University Hospital.

With so many people in so many roles looking for one woman out of hundreds, it was more than just a question of technology. What the project team needed to consider was how these different perspectives and individual roles contribute to the whole process of saving lives. And when looking for technology, it was important to find a solution that would support these roles in their work rather than stand in the way.

Heidelberg University Hospital collaborated with the SAP Design and Co-Innovation Center to deliver a solution by leveraging the Design Thinking methodology, which is based on the cornerstones of “Discover, Design, and Deliver.” During the discovery portion of the project, a series of Design Thinking workshops were held in Germany with a diverse team of experts from both Heidelberg University Hospital and SAP. This group decided to take a user-centric design approach and to focus on the problem first and the technology second. To get to the bottom of the challenges, members of the project team traveled to Kenya to see the local area where the women lived, tour the health centers and hospitals, and interview the doctors, nurses, and participants to get a complete picture of the problem.

What this research uncovered was that the study participants were mostly living in rural areas and were key supporters of large families, so they couldn’t travel back and forth to the clinic every day. Same-day service was a requirement. The nurses each had an extremely high workload, approximately 50-100 patients per day, and did not have the time to also recruit patients eligible for the study. A separate role of recruiter would need to be established. Nurses and lab technicians documented their work with handwritten notes on paper that was then stored in binders — only one copy with no backup, confined to one location. Each health center was completely isolated in that there was no cross-location reporting or information sharing. Communication was fragmented, supported by paper and phones. A major necessity and focus of the project was easier information sharing among the various roles of the research as well as improved transparency into the status of the tests and study in general.

The team members returned to Germany armed with these important insights and ideas for Design Thinking that could optimize these processes. At this point, the technology came into play — and the project team began discussing how to create a user interface that was easily usable, ran on a mobile device, and resembled a paper form so that very little training would be required.

The SAP Custom Development team developed the solution so that each role could access the cloud application and see only information pertinent to that role. From a technology perspective, there were some challenges getting the mobile synchronization across all different locations. SAP Custom Development helped set up role-based apps implemented on a tablet as well as a web-based user interface. SAP Cloud Platform was selected as it would provide consistent access and a central database that performs all data security, authorizations, and backups. There would be no need for servers on site at the health centers. Rather, all the study data would be stored locally on the tablets, and anonymized data would be transferred via USB internet stick in the cloud and made available to researchers in Heidelberg so they could more closely monitor the study to see the current status of how many tests were performed or how many women had been recruited so far.

Recruiting and Screening Patients in the Cloud

Now that the ETiCCS mobile, cloud-based solution has been rolled out, there is a recruiter at the local health centers working alongside a nurse and informing patients in the waiting area about cervical cancer and prevention. The recruiter uses a mobile device, in the form of a tablet, and works offline, saving the recruiting information locally on the device. After conducting an initial discussion with the candidate, the recruiter gets informed consent from the her to participate in the study and performs intake to check all eligibility facts, with all information displayed on the tablet.

The mobile app, which is a simple, role-specific dashboard, shows the recruiter an opening screen displaying how many women were recruited so far that day as well as the total over time (see screenshots to the left). The recruiter can add new candidates to the study and see the latest participants recruited for the study. When the recruiter adds a candidate, the participant’s name and birthday are entered, and an internal number is assigned to that person so only anonymized data will be used thereafter for data security and privacy. Once the necessary questions are answered by the participant and entered into the tablet, the recruiter saves the information in the app and then transfers the data to the nurse’s device, who takes over the next step in the process.

The mobile app, which is a simple, role-specific dashboard, shows the recruiter an opening screen displaying how many women were recruited so far that day as well as the total over time

The recruiter can add new candidates to the study and see the latest participants recruited for the study. When the recruiter adds a candidate, the woman’s name and birthday are entered, and an internal number is assigned so only anonymized data will be used thereafter for data security and privacy

The nurse sees a different individualized dashboard that shows how many new candidates were enrolled for the day, and can decide who to call up and examine. The nurse has a different set of questions displayed on the tablet to fill out that are specific to the examination, and also has access to check that the informed consent was signed and ensure that everything is in proper order. After the nurse performs the exam and collects the cell sample, he or she saves the appropriate information in the tablet and receives an on-screen confirmation, and all the data is updated in the app. The nurse can also send information about the samples to the lab technician right from the app as well as contact the participants to alert them when they have to come back to the local health center. For the purposes of consistency and data security, only the nurse uploads the patients’ data to the cloud. The process involves the nurse transferring the data from the tablet to SAP Cloud Platform via a USB internet stick twice daily, depending on internet availability, to sync the study data and provide transparency to those in the other roles.

The material samples are delivered to a specialized laboratory for examination and analysis where the biomarker testing and the HPV tests are then performed. The lab technician who physically analyzes the samples is connected to the cloud and has access to the same data through the app’s web-based user interface. After the technician performs the analysis, he or she then enters the results of the test in the ETiCCS app and sends them to a pathologist at the hospital for final interpretation. Those results are immediately available to the doctor, who then evaluates the results and decides whether the patient needs to be treated or if other follow-up measures are needed. Patients will be informed of the test results via a phone call from the nurse or by home visit when necessary. Once the doctor and the nurse save the pertinent information to the patient record in the app, the study results are updated so that the research lead back in Heidelberg University Hospital who is in charge of the study can look at the reporting across all the different activities recorded from all the various roles. And the researcher can review this information at any time to see the study progression, rather than having to wait to see results until after the study is concluded.

The pilot of the ETiCCS project consisted of a one-year study, which is currently ongoing, involving two local health centers and the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, Kenya.

Paving the Way for the Rest of the World

With the mobile solution also having an offline capability, recruiters and nurses can use the tablet to collect and enter data even when they are not connected to SAP Cloud Platform. This means they can travel far from the local health center to even the most remote villages to recruit harder-to-reach women. “Now our colleagues could also go into the remote communities in Africa to register women for cancer screening, collect test samples, deliver them to labs for testing, and then transmit results to the respective patient, together with any recommendation from the doctor,” says von Knebel Doeberitz. “And the fact that you can deliver that message through the cloud to the patient from whom the sample has been taken is a big advantage and will clearly improve the screening facilities in these areas.”

Other future enhancements to the project will include rolling it out beyond tablets to mobile phones. Self-sampling will also be implemented so women can forego the exam with the nurse and submit their own cell samples. This will help increase the number of samples by including women who might have been averse to the examination itself and by freeing up the nurses’ time so they can help even more patients.

Following its goal to prevent cervical cancer in underprivileged areas of the world, the ETiCCS project is well poised to reach other countries outside Kenya. The study has already expanded to include Gondar, Ethiopia, in addition to the recruitment in Eldoret. And the hope is to expand and reach areas beyond Africa. “This problem is on a global scale everywhere infrastructure has not been as well developed,” says von Knebel Doeberitz. “We are considering implementing the same technology and conducting similar trials in areas where no cervical center tests have been developed, such as in Latin America, Asia, and Eastern European countries.”

More sponsors will be needed to support the cost of setting up the infrastructure and reshaping the solution to localize it for different locations. While there is no single solution for the screening process for different countries since each country has its own specific requirements, the underlying technology makes the app functionality easy to duplicate. “There is no one-size-fits-all solution for cervical cancer screening, but our approach can easily be adapted to many different settings,” says von Knebel Doeberitz. “We can easily transfer this app to other underprivileged areas where cervical cancer is prevalent among women who play a vital social role in the overall development of their communities.”

The ETiCCS project received much well-deserved recognition for its success in 2016. It won a first-prize Design Value Award from the Design Management Institute for improving lives according to user-centered design principles; was awarded Bronze in the Spark Design Awards; was a finalist for a Mobile Excellence Award in the Humanitarian category; and achieved an SAP HANA Innovation Award honorable mention in the Next-Gen Apps category.

“We developed a simple, primary application using SAP Cloud Platform that has never existed before and will change the medical world,” says von Knebel Doeberitz. “This success will lead us into new phases of cloud-based application development, such as in the area of digitalized pathology and medical image analysis.” For example, nurses, doctors, or technicians could upload pictures of patients or samples from the app to the cloud. Global experts then would review those images, make recommendations, and transfer the results back to the local side. “Having these initial prototype projects like the ETiCCS program now running, we see how effective IT solutions can be and how we can make a huge impact addressing other illnesses and diseases affecting the world’s vulnerable populations,” he adds.

Heidelberg University Hospital

Industry: Healthcare

Employees: 10,300 employees, including 1,500 professors and doctors

Hospital details (2015): 44 medical departments; 11 medical institutes; 3,600 medical students; 1,100,000 outpatient visits; 66,000 inpatient cases; 56,000 partial inpatient days; and 400 students earned their medical degrees

Websites:

SAP solutions: SAP Cloud Platform, utilizing SAP Design Thinking methodology

 

 

 

 

ETiCCS meets WAKA at IPVC 2017

On March 2nd 2017 WAKA is organising a satellite symposium “WAKA HPV NETWORK: HPV IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA” at the IPVC 2017 where ETiCCS and SAP will present their IT-based approach to cervical cancer screening in resource-limited regions. The meeting will take place in Meeting Room 1.43 at 3:00 – 4:30 pm.

Emerging Technologies in Cervical Cancer Screening (ETiCCS) scoops award for improving women’s lives

About SAP / SAP Africa News Center


Februray 17, 2017 by Nteseng Maboe

East Africa, Kenya, Nairobi, 4 February, 2017SAP’s Design and Co-Innovation Center together with Heidelberg University Hospital has optimized a cervical cancer screening test that combines applied medical research with the power of innovative SAP cloud technology to improve quality of life amongst women in Africa. The digitized screening test, called “Emerging Technologies in Cervical Cancer Screening (ETiCCS)” scooped first prize of the dmi:Design Value Award* in 2016 for improving lives according to user-centered design principles.

Cervical cancer is the second most common cause of death for women worldwide and ranks #1 in Kenya. Although it is easily preventable, most eligible women have never been screened and have no access to healthcare resources. The cervical cancer screening test was piloted during a one-year study, and was tested on a total of 800 women at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, Kenya.

At the UN Sustainable Development Summit 2015, 193 world leaders gathered to adopt 17 Sustainable Development Goals aimed at protecting the planet and ensuring prosperity for all by 2030. Projects like ETiCCS proof SAP’s mission how technology can effectively transform the healthcare industry and help medical professionals to address cancer diagnosis and treatment in fragile infrastructures which directly supports the UN’s top 3 goal of Good Health & Well-Being.

“This is a special award for SAP as it reinforces our vision and commitment to help the world run better and improve people’s lives, while supporting the 17 sustainable development goals of the United Nations (UN). The screening technology is the first to combine applied medical research with the power of cutting edge cloud technology and user-centered design principles for cervical cancer. SAP is very excited about this achievement as we continue to uncover the underlying challenges of cancer screening in Africa and other emerging countries,” commented Dr. Gilbert Saggia, Managing Director at SAP East Africa.

The screening in Kenya is ongoing and the plan is to include countrywide self-sampling and IoT scenarios (lab equipment integration), pattern recognition, deep learning, remote diagnostics support and validation. “SAP is looking for additional strategic partners with a passion for improving people’s lives and strengthening Africa’s healthcare systems. The aim for SAP East Africa is to collaborate towards a global 2030 vision for user-centered design and cloud technology to improve cancer screening and further uncover the underlying challenges of cancer screening in emerging countries,” adds Dr. Saggia.

With the help of technology such as SAP HANA Cloud Platform the user centered solution runs on a single platform across multiple roles which enables seamless communication between all parties, even in very remote areas and environments with unstable Internet connectivity. Thanks to role-specific data entry the solution is easy to use and access to patient data and test results are immediately available to the local hospital and to Heidelberg University Hospital in Germany.

Through the use of the technology, medical staff have now reduced paperwork meaning no duplication or opportunities for human error to affect test results. The medical records are safely stored in the cloud providing instant access to results. This enables labs to accelerate the screening process and empower medical staff through improved quality control embedded in the screening process. Real-time access to data and reporting, fully compliant with data privacy and security requirements, means labs can make informed diagnoses regardless of location or region.

“This project is another milestone in SAP`s attempt to address the challenge of adequately screening for and treating cancer. It is not only about building great software to help the world run better, but also creating a positive impact in society and improving people’s lives,” added Dr Saggia.

The project stands to transform healthcare screening services by combining user-centered design with on-site user research that enables healthcare professionals to uncover critical patient insights and adapt the solution to other screening processes and field research.

ETiCCS’ vision is to support the fight against cancer in fragile infrastructures. The solution sets new standards for bringing applied medical research to Africa, powered by the SAP HANA Cloud Platform. SAP Design projects such as these undoubtedly positions SAP in the lead with regards to design and innovation to influence the medical community. With this solution, hundreds of women in Kenya now have access to screening for cervical cancer during the first pilot phase

Prof. Magnus von Knebel Doeberitz, Medical Director, Department of Applied Tumor Biology, Institute of Pathology, Heidelberg University Hospital, said: “Through the ETiCCS program, we were able to complement applied medical research around biomarkers with the power of cutting edge cloud technology to bring co-innovation to Africa in a way which really helps to improve people’s lives.”

Currently all personal records are kept in Kenya – only pseudonyms data is uploaded through the SAP mobile solution. The mobile solution creates a number based on the pseudonyms data and links to the patient test results. However, the mapping between the generated number and patient is done on site by a medical professional. The app will be made available through SAP to other interested countries in Africa as a custom development solution.

About SAP

As market leader in enterprise application software, SAP (NYSE: SAP) helps companies of all sizes and industries run better. From back office to boardroom, warehouse to storefront, desktop to mobile device – SAP empowers people and organizations to work together more efficiently and use business insight more effectively to stay ahead of the competition. SAP applications and services enable more than 335,000 business and public sector customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow sustainably. For more information, visit http://www.sap.com/africa .

# # #

Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “project,” “predict,” “should” and “will” and similar expressions as they relate to SAP are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. SAP undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. The factors that could affect SAP’s future financial results are discussed more fully in SAP’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including SAP’s most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.

© 2017 SAP SE. All rights reserved. SAP and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP SE in Germany and other countries. Please see http://www.sap.com/corporate-en/legal/copyright/index.epx#trademark for additional trademark information and notices.

Note to editors:

To preview and download broadcast-standard stock footage and press photos digitally, please visit www.sap.com/photos. On this platform, you can find high-resolution material for your media channels. To view video stories on diverse topics, visit www.sap-tv.com or http://www.dmi.org/?page=2016DVAWinners. From this site, you can embed videos into your own Web pages, share video via e-mail links, and subscribe to RSS feeds from SAP TV.

For more information, press only:

Nteseng Maboe, SAP Africa, +27 (11) 235 6000, Nteseng.maboe@sap.com

 

 

Training of health care workers in self sampling in Ethiopia

On February 15th 2017 twelve midwives were trained in genital self sampling using the Evalyn Brush® at Gondar University Hospital  as preparation of community wide HPV-screening project. Instructions for women to take part in the screening project are currently being prepared in Amharic.

Enhancing cancer management through IT // by Dr. Bitange Ndemo, former Permanent Secretary Ministry of ICT // Business Daily Africa

Summary

  • At least 80 per cent of women will contract HPV in their lifetime.
  • 85 per cent who develop cancer die in developing countries.
  • Taxing broadband and IT accessories such as smart phones is increasingly becoming counterproductive.
  • There is mounting evidence that IT improves the lives of people and thereby would lead to the achievement of the SDGs.

Cervical cancer is the number one cause of death among Kenyan women. According to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) 2016 Factsheet titled, Human Papillomavirus (HPV) and Cervical Cancer, most cervical cancers are caused by HPV.

At least 80 per cent of women will contract HPV in their lifetime. Of those who develop cancer, 85 per cent will die in developing countries. Unlike advanced countries that have well-established population-wide cervical cancer early detection programmes, developing countries lack the necessary infrastructure due to limited resources.
However, information technology (IT), has now brought new hope to significantly accelerate and simplify the screening approaches in less affluent and more remote parts of the world.

Collaboration between SAP’s Design and Co-Innovation Centre, Heidelberg University Hospital in Germany and the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, developed a digitised screening solution as part of the Emerging Technologies in Cervical Cancer Screening (ETiCCS) project in Eldoret.

It is a process that begins at a local clinic, followed by data being codified before it is uploaded into the cloud. The project started with a series of ‘Design Thinking’ workshops at the AppHaus Heidelberg (Germany) to optimize the cumbersome manual and paper-based process. A mobile solution connected to the cloud that also runs offline if no Internet is available, was the natural outcome of these workshops.

It connects the silos in the end-to-end screening process – from study recruitment, to data collection, to examination to remote data access to track the study’s progress from Kenya and Germany.

This was one of a kind solution, which African Media Agency reported early this month as having won an award in 2016 for improving lives according to user-centred design principles.

The process would be better if the internet was accessible and affordable in rural Kenya. It is no longer a secret that improving the lives of African people requires improved universal broadband infrastructure that is affordable, flexible policy and regulatory environment.

Taxing broadband and IT accessories such as smart phones is increasingly becoming counterproductive when new technologies like Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data analytics are promising to comprehensively assist developing countries to leapfrog decades of dependence and backwardness.

It is possible that in the coming days the motivation from ETiCCS and collaboration with other cancer studies, we can build predictive models that would provide an even more robust solution to humanity.

There is need to break other national silos in research to bring together findings from other studies.

For example, a recent study by researchers from Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri), Britain’s Queen Mary University and Oxford University came up with striking conclusions linking the occurrence of cancer (including cervical cancer) in Nairobi to the tribal origin of afflicted people.

With such knowledge, it is therefore possible to develop some predictive model to target those whose infections are most likely to lead to cancer and provide targeted awareness programmes. More importantly, the studies could point to new unexplored areas that could lead to an eventual cure for cancer.

The Nairobi study could very well suggest that environment if not genetics plays in some way into the causes of cancer.

If new research points elsewhere then WHO’s suggestion of risk factors for HPV persistence and development of cervical cancer may put into question. These risk factors include early first sexual intercourse, multiple sexual partners, tobacco use and immunity suppression.

There is mounting evidence that IT improves the lives of people and thereby would lead to the achievement of the SDGs.

Developing countries like Kenya, therefore, must strive towards universal connectivity that enables access to ICTs. IT as demonstrated in the ETiCCS case has the power of doing that which we couldn’t do before. There is a greater need now than ever before to collaborate, leverage IT, build capacity and change the lives of people.

The writer is an associate professor at the University of Nairobi’s School of Business

SAP Design and Heidelberg University Hospital join forces to fight cervical cancer

World Cancer Day


Date:  2 February 2017 to 9 February 2017

We are proud to support this year’s #WorldCancerDay. SAP Design and Heidelberg University Hospital are committed to support the UN’s global goal of good health and well being by improving research and treatment of cancer through the power of design, applied medical research and IT.

Cervical cancer is the second most common cause of death for women worldwide and ranks #1 in Kenya. Although it is easily preventable, most eligible women have never been screened and have no access to healthcare resources. Heidelberg University Hospital piloted the Emerging Technologies in Cervical Cancer Screening (ETiCCS) test during a one-year study with 800 women at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret Kenya. SAP Design joined the Heidelberg University Hospital to digitize the recruiting, screening and examination process of ETiCCS by applying Design Thinking and latest cloud technology.


First SAP mobile Cloud cervical cancer machine unveiled in Kenya // Dr. Gilbert Saggia, SAP East Africa Managing Director

BizNis Africa // February 2nd, 2017


SAP’s Design and Co-Innovation Center together with Heidelberg University Hospital has optimized a cervical cancer screening test that combines applied medical research with the power of innovative SAP cloud technology to improve quality of life amongst women in Africa.

Cervical cancer is the second most common cause of death for women worldwide and ranks number on in Kenya. Although it is easily preventable, most eligible women have never been screened and have no access to healthcare resources. The cervical cancer screening test was piloted during a one-year study, and was tested on a total of 800 women at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, Kenya.At the UN Sustainable Development Summit 2015, 193 world leaders gathered to adopt 17 Sustainable Development Goals aimed at protecting the planet and ensuring prosperity for all by 2030. Projects like ETiCCS proof SAP’s mission how technology can effectively transform the healthcare industry and help medical professionals to address cancer diagnosis and treatment in fragile infrastructures which directly supports the UN’s top 3 goal of Good Health & Well-Being.“This is a special award for SAP as it reinforces our vision and commitment to help the world run better and improve people’s lives, while supporting the 17 sustainable development goals of the United Nations (UN). The screening technology is the first to combine applied medical research with the power of cutting edge cloud technology and user-centered design principles for cervical cancer. SAP is very excited about this achievement as we continue to uncover the underlying challenges of cancer screening in Africa and other emerging countries,” comments Dr Gilbert Saggia, SAP East Africa Managing Director.The screening in Kenya is ongoing and the plan is to include countrywide self-sampling and IoT scenarios (lab equipment integration), pattern recognition, deep learning, remote diagnostics support and validation. “SAP is looking for additional strategic partners with a passion for improving people’s lives and strengthening Africa’s healthcare systems. The aim for SAP East Africa is to collaborate towards a global 2030 vision for user-centered design and cloud technology to improve cancer screening and further uncover the underlying challenges of cancer screening in emerging countries,” adds Dr. Saggia.

With the help of technology such as SAP HANA Cloud Platform the user centered solution runs on a single platform across multiple roles which enables seamless communication between all parties, even in very remote areas and environments with unstable Internet connectivity. Thanks to role-specific data entry the solution is easy to use and access to patient data and test results are immediately available to the local hospital and to Heidelberg University Hospital in Germany.

Through the use of the technology, medical staff have now reduced paperwork meaning no duplication or opportunities for human error to affect test results. The medical records are safely stored in the cloud providing instant access to results. This enables labs to accelerate the screening process and empower medical staff through improved quality control embedded in the screening process. Real-time access to data and reporting, fully compliant with data privacy and security requirements, means labs can make informed diagnoses regardless of location or region.

“This project is another milestone in SAP`s attempt to address the challenge of adequately screening for and treating cancer. It is not only about building great software to help the world run better, but also creating a positive impact in society and improving people’s lives,” adds Dr Saggia.

The project stands to transform healthcare screening services by combining user-centered design with on-site user research that enables healthcare professionals to uncover critical patient insights and adapt the solution to other screening processes and field research.

ETiCCS’ vision is to support the fight against cancer in fragile infrastructures. The solution sets new standards for bringing applied medical research to Africa, powered by the SAP HANA Cloud Platform. SAP Design projects such as these undoubtedly positions SAP in the lead with regards to design and innovation to influence the medical community. With this solution, hundreds of women in Kenya now have access to screening for cervical cancer during the first pilot phase.

“Through the ETiCCS program, we were able to complement applied medical research around biomarkers with the power of cutting edge cloud technology to bring co-innovation to Africa in a way which really helps to improve people’s lives,” Prof Magnus von Knebel Doeberitz, Department of Applied Tumor Biology, Institute of Pathology, Heidelberg University Hospital Medical Director.

Currently all personal records are kept in Kenya – only pseudonyms data is uploaded through the SAP mobile solution. The mobile solution creates a number based on the pseudonyms data and links to the patient test results. However, the mapping between the generated number and patient is done on site by a medical professional. The app will be made available through SAP to other interested countries in Africa as a custom development solution.

Design world recognizes cervical cancer project by Heidelberg University Hospital

Logo Mobile Excellence Awards

Our joint cervical cancer project with SAP has been honored with several awards in 2016. Next to receiving the first prize of the DMI 2016 Design Value Award, the bronze medal of the Spark Design Awards, and the HANA Innovation Award Honorable Mention Trophy, ETiCCS has also reached the finals in the humanitarian category at the Mobile Excellence Awards on 26-Jan-2017.For more information on our design-led innovation approach to digitize the screening process for cervical cancer in Eldoret, Kenya, click here:

» Saving Lives through Cancer Screening

Watch the webinar with Prof. Magnus von Knebel Doeberitz of Department of Molecular Pathology of Heidelberg University Hospitals

Healthcare and IT joined forces to significantly accelerate and simplify the screening approach in fragile infrastructures. The first project started with a cervical cancer screening study in Eldoret, Kenya.

Get in touch! dcc@sap.com and check out http://spr.ly/605783MPF

Training in portable colposcopy

Training in portable colposcopy at Gondar University

Portable colposcopes such as the Gynocular™, developed for remote settings, allow the visualization of the cervix with a high magnification in contrast to examination with the naked eye as done by standard VIA. The Gynocular™ also offers digital documentation of the findings and sharing of the image with remotely situated experts. The device is thus ideal for training, consultation and quality control. The method is suitable for screening used by nurses in peripheral clinics as confirmed several studies.

Class room training

 

Introduction into the Gynoccular® device

facilitators Hermann Bussmann,Solomon Behre, Alexander Luyten and Katahauni Tagveri

6 gynecologists and 6 nurse/midwives already experienced in VIA participated in this 5-day course that was facilitated by Dr(s) Alexander Luyten from Wolfsburg Women’s hospital and Katahauni Tagveri from Inselspital Bern. The training included both classroom and practical sessions and a post-training skills evaluation.

As a next step a field study is planned to appraise the value of nurse-led portable colposcopy for peripheral settings.