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Wezesha

Working in partnership with the government in Tanzania to establish a nationally scaled digital citizen feedback platform to drive responsive public health decision making.

Highlights

200

Healthcare facilities supported, serving over 1.5m people every year

90%

Of citizens using the service report increased trust in services

60%

Of piloted health facilities now use citizen feedback data to make decisions

Wezesha

The problem

In Tanzania's healthcare facilities, there is insufficient comprehensive client feedback data. Typically, client feedback is provided via paper and pen through suggestion boxes, exit interviews or via hotlines. However, through these mechanisms low volumes of feedback are shared, often in an unstructured format and not enough reaches the management levels of local and central government. 60 per cent of clients say that existing feedback mechanisms are inadequate. As a result, client voices are not sufficiently heard within healthcare decision making. This lack of communication undermines trust in the healthcare system and hampers the utilisation of essential services, leading to negative healthcare outcomes.

The solution

Wezesha is working with the Government in Tanzania to develop an innovative healthcare platform that amplifies citizens' voices to improve healthcare. Using free and anonymous SMSs, patients can provide direct feedback about the services they receive at healthcare facilities using their mobile phones. The data collected through patient surveys provides healthcare managers with actionable insights on the quality-of-service delivery based on the experiences of citizens. The platform can enable the sharing of updates and outbound health information to patients to help close the feedback loop and foster trust and engagement.

The insight

In close collaboration with the government, the organisation has launched the intervention across 200 healthcare facilities, which serve 1.5M people per year. 90 per cent of clients who used the platform stated an increased knowledge of services, and 71 per cent stated that it improved their trust in the healthcare system. Since launching, 60% of these health facilities have utilised citizen voice insights provided through the platform to inform their decision-making processes. As a result, institutional deliveries increased by 5%.