Kenya: Telemedicine Project wins Rolex Korogocho

Aggrey Willis Otieno was awarded the Rolex Award 2012 in recognition of its innovative telemedicine initiative piloted in Korogocho slums, Nairobi, Kenya, becoming the first to win the award in it's 34 year history.

The award comes with a prize of 100,000 Swiss francs (Sh9.2 billion) and a Rolex watch. Aggrey also benefit from the technical assistance of an expert group to advance its innovative telemedicine. Aggrey received the award on Tuesday, November 27 in New Delhi, India, in a celebration attended by leading figures from the fields of science, technology and the environment.

"In developed countries, pregnancy is often a blessing that is received with great honors. Women in Korogocho, a slum in Nairobi congested, pregnancy is often a curse that condemns many to death preventable .. then .. I have a dream, a dream that one day we will have a rate of zero maternal and neonatal mortality, "says Aggrey, who was born and raised in the slum expansion.

According to the 2012 Nobel Rolex, too many women - and children - die from diseases and complications that could be avoided simply by giving them access to prenatal care and skilled legitimate medical services. Aggrey developed an ingenious model to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality in Korogocho.

The Award will build a telemedicine center that relies on a doctor 24 hours a day to respond to medical emergencies related to pregnancy, give advice and, if necessary, send a van to transport pregnant women in a hospital.

ICT infrastructure will connect downtown health professionals working on the front line with qualified community-based medical assistants Korogocho, facilitating communication between them to follow pregnant women to control their pregnancies, educate them about maternal health child and, above all, easy transportation to health centers for women at high risk for complications

"We are honored to support the granting of this extra ordinary person, who have the imagination and dedication to do good things for the good of others. We are fortunate to have the generous guidance and experience of experts Join us each field to choose from among the many outstanding candidates we received - this year, 3,500 by 154 countries in total, the largest number ever received, "said Rebecca Irvin, head Philanthropy, Rolex Replica Watches.

The Rolex Award for Enterprise was founded in 1976 to recognize and support outstanding individuals of the new ideas in science and health, applied technology, exploration and discovery, the environment, heritage and culture observation. Since then, the program has been internationally acclaimed for his pioneering work, and supported 115 people from 42 countries.