3 lessons we learned building our healthtech app in Indonesia

Fighting tuberculosis (TB) remains a challenge in global health. Indonesia, for one, has the world’s second highest TB incidence.

One problem behind this is the number of TB patients who don’t finish their medication. Symptoms reduce significantly after just one to two months of treatment, leading patients to assume they are cured. However, this could lead to treatment failure, drug-resistant bacteria, or even death.

In response, we at Kopernik assisted Otsuka Pharmaceuticals and Japan International Cooperation Agency in testing their project, Sembuh (the Indonesian word for “healed”), an app that aims to help TB patients stick to their full treatment cycle.

The first version of the app consisted of five features:

1. A calendar to track patients’ treatment progress
2. An alarm that allows patients to receive notifications and alerts
3. educational videos to teach relevant information about TB
4. An e-consultation feature
5. A supporters’ messaging system

The app’s calendar feature

A video on the app explaining TB in simple terms

We asked 45 TB patients to use the app and then collected their feedback. Here’s what we learned.

A nurse physician guiding a TB patient who signed up for Sembuh

What we learned

Less is more

TB patients are likely to come from lower income communities and older age groups. Unsurprisingly, some patients and hospital staff were initially skeptical of the app.

No one wants to have a sophisticated app that does not load quickly.