HARARE — Cimas Health Group says its annual Healthathon has attracted 372 submissions this year, with 10 teams set to compete in the final round of the digital health innovation challenge in Harare on Friday.

The Healthathon 3.0 grand finale will be held Aug. 28 at the health group’s Borrowdale headquarters under the theme, “Reimagining Healthcare Through Disruptive Innovation.”

Cimas Chief Information Officer Foster Akaketwa said the competition had grown into a national platform for innovators seeking technology-based solutions to healthcare challenges including high costs, limited access to services, fragmented data systems, delays in service delivery and low participation in preventive healthcare.

“This year’s Cimas Healthathon 3.0 has once again provided a national platform for innovators to develop technology-driven solutions to some of Zimbabwe’s most pressing healthcare challenges,” Akaketwa said.

“We received impressive 372 submissions, which is an increase from last year, and this demonstrates that there is both a strong appetite and considerable capability among Zimbabwean innovators to contribute to solving healthcare challenges.”

The submissions came from innovators, start-ups, researchers, students and technology enthusiasts from across Zimbabwe, according to Cimas.

Akaketwa said proposed solutions covered diagnostics, preventive healthcare, artificial intelligence, rural healthcare, rehabilitation, data protection and emergency response.

“The solutions we have seen this year have been particularly encouraging because of their diversity,” he said. “They cover areas ranging from diagnostics and preventive healthcare to artificial intelligence, rural healthcare, rehabilitation, data protection and emergency response.”

The 372 entries were progressively narrowed to 20, then 15 and finally 10 teams. Cimas said each of the top 15 teams was assigned a mentor to help refine its idea and assess how it could work within existing healthcare systems.

“Each of the Top 15 teams was assigned a mentor,” Akaketwa said. “The mentors worked with the teams to challenge their assumptions, strengthen their research, understand healthcare workflows, refine their solutions and think through what would be required to take those solutions into implementation.”

The 10 finalists will present their projects to a panel made up of Cimas executives and external experts from the healthcare, technology, innovation and industry sectors.

The winner will receive US$3,500, while the runners-up will get US$2,000 and US$1,500.

Akaketwa said Cimas would also consider some of the innovations for further validation, incubation, partnerships or pilot programmes.

“Our Healthathon is about identifying innovations that have the potential to create real healthcare impact,” he said.

“So, beyond the monetary prizes, participants stand to gain something even more valuable, the opportunity to have their innovations considered for piloting with Cimas Health Group and to contribute to shaping the future of healthcare in Zimbabwe.”

Akaketwa said the programme’s success would ultimately be measured by whether ideas developed through the competition can be translated into practical improvements in healthcare delivery.

“For us, the real success of Healthathon will be when an idea developed through this challenge moves beyond the competition and begins making a measurable difference in people’s lives,” he said.