Open: NCIIA 14th Annual Conference

Students at Penn State University are working on a social entrepreneurial venture in Kenya called Mashavu: Networked Health Solutions for the Developing World. Mashavu is a telemedicine system that enables medical professionals to connect with patients in rural communities. The Mashavu kiosk operators, medical practitioners, website administrators and other individuals connected to the Mashavu network are expected to adhere to the highest principles of ethical conduct. We developed Code of Ethics for Mashavu based on universal health policies and guidelines, but our observations and lessons learned while conducting field research in Kenya have forced us to rethink our approach to developing and ensuring compliance with our Code of Ethics. This study explores the realities of privacy, liability, trust, hygiene, quality, business practices and social customs in developing communities and presents the systems approach applied by our team to develop the ethical, policy and compliance framework to roll-out the Mashavu venture.