Digital health screening speeds up passenger clearance at Kenya airport

Africa Business News of Tuesday January 26, 2021

Source: theeastafrican.co.ke

01/26/2021

At Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Kenya’s capital Nairobi, passengers disembark their planes and head straight to the Covid-19 screening bay.

Automated cameras with built-in thermometers measure the temperatures of dozens of people in the socially distant queue, displaying the results on a large screen. Their passports are also scanned to digitally verify their Covid-19 certificates.

Antonia Filmer, a British businesswoman who recently used innovation at JKIA, says digital airport coordination speeds up the clearance of passengers at the airport compared to European airports.

“On arrival in Nairobi just before entering the immigration offices, our QR codes were scanned and linked to a temperature monitoring camera. The flow of passengers comes in and their temperature is displayed on the screen, ”she said, adding that it makes it easy to tell if you are next to someone with a fever.

Dubbed ‘Trusted Travel’, the tech solution has been hailed by the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) as a game changer in controlling the spread of COVID-19.

Kenya is the first country on the continent to use innovation for efficient management of air travel, launched on January 9 by the Ministry of Health.

“The ministry has worked with the AU and the African CDC, with technical support from PanaBIOS to implement an online system to authenticate and verify laboratory test certificates for travelers,” said Cabinet Secretary of Kenya Health, Mutahi Kagwe.

Africa CDC Director John Nkengasong acknowledged Kenya’s goodwill to implement a solution he said builds the confidence of Africans doing business on the continent.

He cited Kenya’s recent acquisition of three United Nations Development Program (UNDP) robots, which have the capacity to scan between 10 and 100 people per minute at a distance of up to 3.5 meters, as a perfect example of how the country is spearheading. the use of emerging technologies on the continent to tame the virus.

“Kenya has always been a pioneer of innovation in Africa, but it is its commitment to continental integration that makes our collaboration on digital health through Trusted Travel such a powerful showcase for pan-African innovation” , he told East African.

The system was developed by the PanaBIOS consortium, Harare-based technology company Econet Group, Nairobi-based artificial intelligence start-up Koldchain and Afrochampions.

PanaBIOS is the consortium of Pan-African institutions involving standards organizations, technology companies, AU organs, the African Tourism Council, Afreximbank, the Organization of African Economic Zones and the African Organization for Standardization.

At JKIA, Trusted Travel is used to verify Covid-19 test certificates for travelers while helping to harmonize entry and exit controls across the continent.

“As our economies, schools and borders reopen, Africa needs a harmonized approach to reduce the risk of transmission of Covid-19. That is why we launched this portal as an innovative digital tool to help Member States harmonize entry and exit requirements in order to prevent cross-border transmission on the continent ”, said Amira Mohammed, Commissioner for Affairs social work at the African Union Commission.

Trusted Travel also provides information on travel conditions at departure and destination ports and access to a list of government approved laboratories for coronavirus testing in African countries.

According to the African CDC, this will help build confidence in the test results among government authorities, airlines, transport service operators and other transport sector stakeholders across the continent.

Without such a system, the proliferation of user-falsified and forged test and vaccine certificates could undermine efforts to minimize cross-border infections while hampering cross-border economic activities.

Africa CDC claims that the portal is secure and secure “and has been developed using international cybersecurity standards and data protection protocols”.

Other partners involved in the implementation of the Trusted Travel Initiative include the World Health Organization, the International Civil Aviation Organization, the United Nations Development Program, the African Civil Aviation Commission , the Africa International Airport Council, the African Airlines Association and the International Air Transport Association. .