The health tech company’s platform, used daily by thousands of South African doctors, enabled free digital health screenings at a Soweto community event, demonstrating how technology built for private practice can expand access to preventive care.
Bringing healthcare closer to communities
South Africa faces a growing burden of chronic disease. Conditions such as hypertension, diabetes and high cholesterol continue to rise, yet many people remain undiagnosed until serious complications develop.
The challenge is particularly acute in underserved communities, where access to routine screening can be limited. Ensuring that people are screened, receive their results and access appropriate follow-up care remains a significant hurdle.
Healthbridge believes technology can help close this gap.
For more than two decades, Healthbridge has developed digital solutions that help healthcare professionals deliver better patient care. Increasingly, the company is applying the same technology beyond medical practices to support community healthcare initiatives and preventive care.
This approach was recently demonstrated through Healthbridge's participation in the Kasi Games for a Cause initiative hosted in Soweto on Mandela Day.
Hosted by Myclinic Cares, the non-profit foundation established by Soweto GP and healthcare entrepreneur Dr Nhlamulo Hlungwane, the event combined community upliftment with preventive healthcare. Alongside traditional township games, the distribution of over 2 000 pairs of school shoes and sanitary products, and other community activities, residents also had access to free health screenings. A total of 105 residents were screened for key risk factors, including high blood pressure, elevated blood glucose and cholesterol levels, helping identify potential health concerns before they become more serious.
The shoes carry their own story.
Manufactured by My Walk Made with Soul, a South African non-profit organisation, the shoes distributed through the initiative were made from recycled, uncontaminated IV drip bags, oxygen masks and medical tubing. Just 20 empty drip bags are needed to produce a single pair of durable, fully recyclable school shoes. Since 2020, the initiative has produced nearly 400 000 pairs for South African learners.
Healthbridge contributed 1 000 pairs of shoes to the initiative, with employees adding voluntary personal donations to the company's contribution.
Says Ivone Veiga-Moroldo, Head of Client Experience at Healthbridge: “We've always believed that healthcare and education go hand in hand, and every child deserves to go to school with dignity. As a mum of a primary school child, I know how much those early years matter. I'm incredibly proud that Healthbridge can play a small part in helping children and young girls feel healthier, more confident and ready to learn.”
Turning screenings into healthcare journeys
For Healthbridge, the initiative represented far more than a once-off corporate social investment project. It provided a practical opportunity to demonstrate how digital healthcare technology can help transform community screening programmes into meaningful healthcare interventions.
Traditionally, many community screening initiatives rely heavily on paper-based systems. Information is collected manually, records may be incomplete and participants can struggle to access their results or secure appropriate follow-up care. Valuable opportunities for early intervention can therefore be lost.
Participants attending the screening programme were digitally registered on arrival, with screening information captured electronically and stored securely. Results were communicated directly to participants through secure channels, while individuals requiring further medical attention received guidance on the next steps in their healthcare journey.
The objective is to ensure that every screening becomes the start of ongoing care.
"Every screening is an opportunity to identify a health risk earlier, connect someone to appropriate care and potentially change the course of their health journey," says Ivone Veiga-Moroldo, Head of Client Experience at Healthbridge. "Technology helps us ensure that important health information reaches the right people quickly and securely, while supporting continuity of care beyond the screening event itself."
Technology enabling more proactive care
Healthcare organisations increasingly recognise technology's role in improving access, supporting healthcare professionals and enabling more proactive care. From electronic patient records and practice management systems to artificial intelligence and care co-ordination tools, digital innovation is reshaping healthcare delivery. Healthbridge supports thousands of South African healthcare professionals with technology designed to improve efficiency, patient engagement and clinical outcomes.
The company's latest innovations are increasingly focused on helping healthcare providers move beyond reactive care models and towards more proactive, preventive approaches.
When supported by digital technology, screening data can be captured accurately, communicated securely and used to support appropriate follow-up care. This creates opportunities for earlier intervention, improved patient engagement and better long-term health outcomes. It also enables healthcare initiatives to scale more effectively and generate valuable insights into community health needs.
Beyond providing the technology platform for the Mandela Day initiative, several Healthbridge team members were on site to assist with the digital capture of patient information, helping facilitate efficient patient throughput and a seamless participant experience.
The initiative also reflected the long-standing relationship between Healthbridge and Dr Hlungwane, who is both a Healthbridge client and a participant in the company's Innovation Lab Design Doctors programme, where healthcare practitioners collaborate with technology teams to help shape future healthcare solutions.
Together, they see community-based healthcare initiatives as an important opportunity to demonstrate how digital innovation can support healthcare delivery beyond traditional clinical settings.
A model that can scale
The ambition extends well beyond a single community event in Soweto.
Dr Hlungwane is developing a repeatable model that other healthcare professionals can adapt within their own communities, while Healthbridge sees significant potential for technology-enabled community healthcare initiatives across its national network of healthcare providers.
Through partnerships such as Kasi Games, Healthbridge is demonstrating how technology can help transform community screenings from isolated events into connected healthcare journeys, bringing preventive care closer to the communities that need it most.
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