(CNN) Do high drug prices mean you can't afford your medication? In Senegal there's an app for that.
Tech entrepreneur Adama Kane's "virtual pharmacy" allows users to exchange dispensed but unused medication to both reduce wastage and help poorer families pay for their medicine.
"Everyone has a box of unused medicine in their cabinet," Kane told CNN. "I started to think about [developing] a solution to save money," he says.
JokkoSanté, the free mobile app Kane launched in Dakar, works by locals bringing in unused medication to a licensed pharmacy in exchange for points they can then spend on future prescriptions.
The aim is to provide communication between those who need certain types of medication but can't afford it and those who have too much.
Only 25 percent of the continent's population have internet access, so the service also runs offline via SMS text messaging or "quick codes" referred to as USSDs (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data). Locals just sign up to the app using their cell phone numbers.
Since launching two years ago, the app has exchanged $4,000 worth of medicines and gained 1,500 active members says Kane.
Shocked by wastage
The African tech hubs fostering innovation
Africa is experiencing increased investment in its tech industries. One contributing factor is the amount of tech hubs in the major urban centers that are sprouting. According to research from
GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator in 2016 there were 314 active tech hubs across the continent.
Part of the appeal of tech hubs is that they provide affordable shared office space, fast internet, and access to reliable electricity, something that the continent overall still grapples with. Nairobi Garage in Kenya's capital offers all of these things, and holds tech events, conferences and workshops helping entrepreneurs gain new skills. Also in Nairobi, iHub tech incubator lists more than 150 companies that can trace their origins to ideas sparked there.
Over 50% of tech hubs are in five countries, South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria Egypt and Morocco. One of the biggest in South Africa is Durban's
SmartXchange, which strives to develop small and medium enterprises, and holds monthly forums where successful business figures offer advice to aspiring entrepreneurs.
Cape Town-based
RLabs organizes digital and entrepreneurship bootcamps, and provides an investment of up to $20,000 for every social enterprise developed through their program.
The east Africa nation's capital is home to
iceaddis which supports youth-driven private sector initiatives and promotes interaction between techies, entrepreneurs, investors and people from the creative industries.
The
Co-Creation Hub in Lagos, Nigeria's most populous city, holds so-called tech-In series, where software developers and designers try to create new web and mobile based solutions to social challenges affecting the everyday lives of Nigerians over the course of two days.
Located in Tanzania's largest city,
Kinu aims to be an open space where Tanzania's tech community can collaborate, and make a joint effort to find new solutions to social challenges.
In the heart of Kampala is
Hive Colab, a community-run innovation hub which offers co-working space. It's a place where tech entrepreneurs, web and mobile app developers, designers and investors can meet, nurture ideas and get them off the ground.
Recovering from a recent, bloody history of conflict, Liberia is turning its attention to tech. Monrovia's
iLab offers free training in information and communications technology and serves as a meet-up space for a range of tech enthusiasts and professionals.
The 43-year-old says he was shocked by the amount of unused medicine him and his wife had lying around the house after repeated fertility attempts.
They'd spent six years trying for a baby but faced the tragedy of continued miscarriages.
In 2013 when their first son, Legré, was born, Kane realized he and his wife had accumulated a pile of unopened packets of medicine such as Folic Acid.
"I was living in Africa (seeing) people dying just because they don't have enough money to buy medicines and I was at home with many unopened boxes," recalls Kane. "I told myself that now I must find a solution."
His answer to this global problem was launched in 2015 and draws on his background in telecoms engineering. I wanted to "create a circular economy," he says.
In the local dialect, Wolof, 'Jokko' translates as communication and Sante, in French, means health.
Nearly four tonnes of fake medicine were destroyed by authorities in Dakar in 2015. Informal street vendors add to the problem. Apps such as Kane's give an incentive to buy from pharmacies.
Money transfer medicine fees
Since launching, his team have widened away from the original concept
Africans abroad often use transfer operators to send money home. Points purchasing builds on this idea, with users abroad having the option to send points to family and friends in Senegal to use on medicine, instead of money.
As the app is free for members, the company makes its money through a five percent commission on corporate social responsibility donations. Blue chip companies can buy points for people in need.
For example, partners can donate points to a certain demographic, explains Kane, such as children between the ages of zero and 15 years old whose parents cannot afford the medication that doctors have prescribed.
Legitimate claims are currently filtered and sent through social workers at a children's hospital in the town of Diamniadio, 40 kilometers from Dakar.
The most-prescribed medications
The cholesterol-lowering medication Crestor was the most-prescribed branded drug in the US in 2014-15, with 21,014,669 prescriptions.
The asthma treatment Advair was the second most-prescribed branded drug, with 13,579,022 prescriptions written in 2014-15.
Nexium helps ease heartburn caused by gastroesophageal reflux disease. It was the third most prescribed in 2014-15, with 13,207,161 prescriptions written.
Diabetics use the Lantus SoloSTAR pen to inject insulin. It was the fourth most-prescribed medication in 2014-15, with 11,167,187 prescriptions written.
The stimulant Vyvanse, which is used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and binge-eating disorder, is number 5 with 10,608,454 prescriptions written.
Lyrica, a treatment for fibromyalgia, seizures and diabetic nerve pain, is number 6 with 10,093,516 prescriptions.
Number 7 is the Spiriva Handihaler, prescribed to patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. There were 9,508,813 prescriptions written for it in 2014-15.
Eighth is Januvia, prescribed to treat Type 2 diabetes, with 9,215,324 prescriptions written in 2014-15.
Symbicort, a treatment for COPD and asthma, is the ninth most-prescribed branded drug in 2014-15, with 8,571,064 prescriptions.
The anti-psychotic Abilify is prescribed to treat conditions including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression. It was the 10th most-prescribed branded drug in America, with 8,301,207 prescriptions.
But there are limitations to the app. The service relies heavily on pharmacies fielding sensitive medications it cannot accept for example those specifically dosed for an individual. Kane and his team work with Senegal's ministry of health, he says, and so far "we have not found any problems with regulation."
Although members can forgo internet access to use the service, "in the pharmacy the software needs to be used with the internet," says Kane, potentially limiting its penetration in rural villages.
Next steps, paying it forward
The growth of Africa's mobile market
The rise in Africa's mobile market is staggering. Its population of mobile users now amount to 12% of all individual subscribers in the world and make up 6% of global revenue. This is a 70% increase when compared to figures published just five years ago.
Pictured: Dressed up people take selfies at the running of the 38th J&B Met horse race on January 31, 2015, at the Kenilworth Race Course, in Cape Town. South Africa is amongst the top five countries for mobile usage in Africa.
The spectacular growth in mobile demand should result in 730 million individual subscribers by 2020. It's market is second only to that of the Asia-Pacific region.
Pictured: Hostesses take a selfie during the African Footballer of the Year Award in Abuja, Nigeria on January 7, 2016.
Smartphone sales now account for 23% of the mobile phone market. These sales are set to increase as infrastructure is modernized and network coverage improves.
Pictured: Visitors take selfies during the opening of the Lagos Photo festival in Lagos on October 22, 2016.
Pictured: Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari (C) and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (L) pose as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg (2nd R) takes a selfie picture with them, during a visit to the presidential palace in Abuja, Nigeria, on September 2, 2016.
Half of the 4G networks currently in use are less than two years old and
4G has just been made available in 24 countries.
Pictured: A Tunisian man takes a selfie with a woman wrapped in cloth with a print of their national flag during a rally on January 14, 2016 in the Habib Bourguiba Avenue in the capital Tunis, to mark the fifth anniversary of the 2011 revolution.
While the market remains largely dominated by 2G packages, high-speed mobile connections (4G/LTE) are gaining ground. In 2015, 46/LTE represented 25% of the market; this will rise to an estimated 60% by 2020.
Pictured: A technician scans the eye of a woman with a smartphone application, in Kianjokoma village, near Kenya's lakeside town of Naivasha. The 'Eyephone app', a smartphone application which can detect eye diseases and disorders, could potentially provide low-income and poor Kenyans with an opportunity to get a quick and effective diagnosis of their eye problems, even in remote rural areas.
At a time when Africa is hosting the COP22, the mobile phone sector has had a catastrophic environmental impact in the region.
Pictured: Nigerian fashion models Mary Jane Unueroh and Fome Emede (L) take a photo of themselves with a cell phone behind the curtain during their fashion show to promote ethnic fashion in Tel Aviv, Israel.
It is easy to repair a smartphone, by virtue of some creative handiwork in markets and souks. But this does not translate to the phones being easily recyclable, however.
Pictured: A woman uses a mobile phone to record the July 4 celebrations in Tahrir square, the day after former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, the country's first democratically elected president, was ousted from power on July 4, 2013 in Cairo, Egypt.
Phones are mainly disposed of in landfills and unauthorized markets.
Pictured: Profit Corner by Mario Macilau. A boy plays behind a discarded TV frame. Electronic waste is burned at the Maputo Municipal open pit dumpsite in Mozambique.
"The digital recycling sector, relating to the life-cycle of all high-tech products, must be completely re-examined, cleaned up, made viable and profitable in the long run throughout the continent," say academics.
Pictured: A mobile phone shop worker watches a televised broadcast of the Nelson Mandela memorial service on December 10, 2013 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
In 2012, economic activity related to mobile phones and their life-cycle accounted for about 3.3 million jobs.
Pictured: Employees work on mobile phones on the assembly line at the VMK (for "Vumbuka", "Wake up" in Kituba) factory in Brazzaville on July 20, 2015. The factory, run by Verone Mankou, produces the first mobile phones made in French speaking Africa.
The top five countries for mobile subscribers are Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. They account for about 44% of total subscribers, while the bottom 30 countries only make up 10%.
Pictured: Young Ivorians attending an Internet Festival in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
The start-up currently partners with one hospital and four pharmacies in and around Dakar. But Kane has his eyes set on many goals.
His future plans include trying to expand throughout Senegal as well as six other french speaking African countries by the end of 2017, including Gabon, Mali and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
By 2020 his start-up is looking to reach 15 countries throughout West Africa.