Country Correspondent: Aisha Gomez
To address shortages of health care professionals in New Zealand, a new micro-credentialing program offered through an app allows teachers to complete 200 hours of training as digital health care workers, for free. The digital credentials, called EduBits and developed with Otago Polytechnic, enable teachers at schools and day care centers to securely send student health information, about head lice or strep throat, for example, to a digital health team in Auckland. There, digital health assessors respond with a diagnosis and treatment plan and send prescriptions to the parents or caregivers via the app, which is called iMOKO. The iMOKO program has provided credentials to up to 300 educators across New Zealand.
