What’s the design in a nutshell?
Simple is a free digital platform for clinicians in busy public hospitals to manage patients with hypertension, more commonly known as high blood pressure and less commonly known as the world's biggest killer!
Why is it needed?
Hypertension kills more people than all infectious diseases combined, and according to the World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 1.13 billion people worldwide have hypertension; most (two-thirds) are living in low- and middle-income countries.
According to the designers’ research, a typical clinician in India, for example, might see over 100 patients in a single day and often will have less than four minutes to see and treat them. And in other countries, Bangladesh, for example, visits can be as short as two minutes! It’s unreasonable to expect clinicians to spend a lot of time recording patient data: keeping in mind that their job is to treat patients, not enter data.
How does it work?
Simple has worked with government Ministries of Health, the WHO, and local health institutions to create a user-centred tool that actually works where most other technologies fail. Recording in Simple takes less than 20 seconds, meaning doctors can spend more valuable time with patients.
Simple has three parts: an app; an easy-to-use mobile app for healthcare workers to record blood pressure, blood sugars, and medicines at every patient visit; the dashboard: a web-based dashboard for officials and health system managers to monitor hypertension control across facilities and regions; and the BP Passport app for iOS and Android: an app for patients and caregivers to record blood pressures and blood sugars that also has daily medication reminders.
"Simple launched in 2019 and today is actively used in 2,862 hospitals and clinics in India, Bangladesh and Ethiopia."
How does it improve life?
Simple is a far-reaching public health tool using practical technology to make the lives of healthcare workers easier and ensure patients are given more time and better care. At a broader scale, administrators can also receive timely data showing where public health programmes are succeeding and where further resources and training need to be allocated.
What’s the impact to date?
Simple launched in 2019 and today is actively used in 2,862 hospitals and clinics in India, Bangladesh and Ethiopia to manage more than 700,000 patients. The platform supports large-scale hypertension control programmes in low- and middle-income countries, where it has the potential to save more than 100 million lives over the next 30 years. And in the next few years, Simple is projected to manage millions of patients.
