One4All: A Coalition of Egyptian Health Startups Take on COVID-19

The Coronavirus pandemic might be affecting every industry with unprecedented magnitude in Egypt, but it’s also leading to massive acts of social solidarity and responsibility. One such act has been Egyptian startups and companies deciding to provide their services - especially those that are useful and relevant, such as delivery and consultations - for free. 

The initiative behind many of those services, which is supporting and helping collectivise the effort, is One4All: a partnership between private sector leaders and local health startups that is helping provide a myriad of services to Egypt’s population free of charge, in an effort to help the population cope and lessen the strain on hospitals.

Taking on the recommended PPP (prepare, prevent, prioritise) approach, One4All was co-founded by CEO of International Business and Investment Services, Nancy Hadi and CEO of nursing app 7ekeema, Dr. Amr Bakr. Together, the founding team is currently focused on three tracks: providing free and accessible services through partnering up with Egypt’s leading health startups, reaching the public to make them aware of these services, and providing healthcare professionals with specialised training.

Bakr’s startup is doing its part. As an on-demand nursing services app, 7keema is providing free, online counseling services, including an algorithm-powered chatbot that assesses symptoms of the user to determine whether or not they’re at risk of having COVID-19 and need testing, as well as triage sessions to help with different cases’ treatments. Pashakeem, another healthcare startup, is also providing online counseling services with trained doctors and nurses. 

Another service that One4All is partnered with is Shezlong - the first tele-psychiatry website in the Middle East - which is providing free counseling sessions to Egyptians. The 30-minute online sessions take place through a video call and aim to address the various impacts that the global pandemic is having on Egyptians’ mental health. 

“We want to address mental health concerns and want to take stress off the healthcare system, because based on the predictions from the WHO and the Ministry of Health, the situation can become even worse in the next coming days, so we believe in PPP - prepare, prevention, prioritise - so that the hospital can focus on emergencies,” tells us Nancy Hadi. “One of the main things we want to assist with is lessening the burden on the healthcare system.”

All of these tools have both English and Arabic options available and are meant to be accessible to any Egyptian with access to the internet.