Only recently, an Irish medical project, Aid:Tech, announced that they had achieved a remarkable feat.

Using the blockchain technology, they were able to assist a Tanzanian mother birth her baby successfully in June last year.

How could Blockchain have possibly assisted in the safe delivery of a child?

We know, in the simplest terms, that Blockchain is a virtual technology that was first used in cryptocurrency transactions but which has now been adopted for other types of financial transactions. Now, with this announcement, it has been taken to a whole new level – the use of Blockchain to ensure mothers have access to the financial aid that would facilitate safe delivery.

Frustrated with the problem of fraud in charities where money donated was used for purposes other than the reason they were given, and having had his own personal experiences, the CEO of the medical project, Joseph Thompson decided to employ the Blockchain technology for getting aid across to the those who need them, specifically pregnant moms.

Giving each of the participants a digital ID, the project tracks the mom from registration to hospital appointments and birth. Through the Blockchain technology, they make sure that each pregnant woman is able to get the drugs, as well as the medical appointments they need without any stories or delays.

But what exactly is the Blockchain technology?

Investopedia in this article gives a fantastic breakdown of a technology that is can be so hard to understand. Simply put, Blockchain is the storing of information (the block) into a public database (the chain)

Although it stores information about a transaction, it does not reveal personal details of the people involved, as each member has to have a digital signature, a username that is used in identifying them online, as can be seen with the Tanzanian moms who were each given a digital ID.

With its unique characteristics of being a decentralized custodian of information, with each information having its unique identifying code called a hash which prevents mix-up of details; and its public database which is accessible to everyone but is protected to avoid hackers, Blockchain has been hailed as the most secure and transparent database ever.

Can Blockchain be used to check corruption in Africa?

Definitely.

One of the reasons why public projects are executed shabbily is because sometimes, the contractors steal the funds allocated to them. If African countries were to employ the Blockchain technology, it would be easier to track what exactly the contractors are using the money given for. It would also track their progress, exposing them if work is not going as it should.

Funds collected by the government and how they use it would be in a public database, and it would be hard for public officials to lie about where they went. All the ridiculous stories of animals swallowing money we heard in Nigeria last year would never have been told if Blockchain was integrated into the government’s system.

Having information about how much the government has and what it is using the money to do makes it more accountable to the people. Corruption is reduced drastically and the lives of the citizens would improve as was the case with the Tanzanian mum and other mothers who gave birth under the project.

False information like ghost workers in the civil service would be easily detected by the Blockchain technology and would be weeded out, reducing government expenditure in this sector.

We could go on and on, but one thing is clear: Blockchain would destroy corruption in Africa if given a chance in the nations of the continent.

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