Better Healthcare for Young People in Zambia

Earlier this year, D-tree and Copper Rose Zambia launched  a partnership to better understand young people’s experiences with public healthcare in Lusaka. As the partnership concludes, we are excited to share the achievements.

Historically, patient feedback systems in Zambia haven’t had a systematic and qualitative approach to collecting insights about how people experience care – from waiting times to staff professionalism. D-tree, in collaboration with Copper Rose Zambia, recognized an opportunity to introduce a chatbot to support the feedback collection process and encourage more open and honest patient responses. Heiko Hornung, D-tree’s interim Country Director in Zambia, says:

“It’s been a vigorous process with young people at the center throughout designing, developing and testing. I look forward to seeing how this will both encourage more young people to share feedback as well as to support public healthcare facilities to improve their services”

Previously, Peer Educators, trained by Copper Rose Zambia to deliver support and guide communities on health issues, played a crucial role in gathering feedback, but the collection process has been unstructured, informal and based on casual conversations. Ester Kambukwe and George Hara, Peer Educators in Lusaka, shared their thoughts on the new chatbot, called Pulsebot.

“A chatbot would make a huge difference. It could ask patients questions in a more structured way and keep track of all their responses. It would save us a lot of time and make sure we don’t miss anything important,” said George Hara.

Esther Kambukwe added, “I’m really hoping that with the chatbot, we can get better insights into what our patients need and how they feel. It should help us spot any issues early and improve the care we provide.”

Implementing effective feedback mechanisms in healthcare is crucial for improving services and making them more responsive to the needs of the community. Adopting a digital solution like the Pulsebot can provide healthcare staff with near real-time data on patient perceptions. Built on WhatsApp, Pulsebot empowers young people to both receive basic health information and share feedback directly, ensuring their voices contribute to shaping health services.

“As Copper Rose Zambia, we understand that young people have long been underserved in having a platform to voice their needs and demand quality services. By introducing the Pulsebot, we aim to bridge this gap by providing a real-time feedback mechanism that empowers young people to report on the quality of services they receive, holding service providers accountable,” says Dr Natasha Salifyanji Kaoma, Copper Rose Zambia CEO.

Copper Rose Zambia and D-tree will continue to look for ways to further improve the system and reach more young people. If you are interested in finding out more, get in touch at: zambiateam@d-tree.org.