Simple

Information Sheet (PDF)

About the project

Simple is now used in hospitals of all sizes in India, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Sri Lanka. In many facilities, clinicians see more than 100 patients each day, so ease-of-use and high performance are key.

10,310 active^* public health facilities
from district hospitals to community clinics

2,337,383 patients
with hypertension managed in Simple

10,588,556 BPs recorded
since the program started

14 sec follow-up
median time to record a follow-up visit

74 sec registration
median time to register a new patient in Simple

** Data updated 4-Jul-2022
* patients recorded at a facility in last 30 days

Simple had strong uptake in public health facilities in India, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Sri Lanka. Healthcare workers appreciate that Simple is easy to learn, simple to use, and takes up very little data. In recent surveys, clinicians gave Simple a 4.6/5 star rating.

Read more about what we are doing differently and what we have learned developing Simple.

Where did this project start?

Simple is supported by Resolve to Save Lives, a not-for-profit organization partnering with countries, communities and organizations to prevent 100 million deaths from cardiovascular disease and make the world safer from epidemics. A key goal is to dramatically increase the number of people with hypertension who have their blood pressure measured and controlled. Simple, contextual digital platforms for managing hypertension are essential to enable actionable reporting and improve patient management.

What are our principles?

Simple is registered as "Digital Public Good" by the Digital Public Goods Alliance. We have published a set of Digital Principles and we endorse the Principles for Digital Development. Our team embodies these concepts in our work culture and in the policies and processes guiding our development activities.

Is Simple really free?

Truly free to use
Use the code in any way
Free forever

This project is supported by Resolve to Save Lives, which enables us to provide Simple completely free of cost with no strings attached. This project will always be open source — free and open to contributions from everyone.

Where can I learn more?

There is a lot more about Resolve to Save Lives' cardiovascular health goals on the website. Our blog has articles about specific aspects of the project and lessons learned as we develop an ultra-thin EMR.

What is Simple built with?

The Android app is written in Kotlin. The API is written in Ruby on Rails. Clinical data is FHIR compliant. Thanks for asking, fellow geeks! More details in our documentation and on Github.

Thank you

This project relies on excellent advice and participation from the Government of India, state governments in India, the Indian Council of Medical Research, the National Heart Foundation of Bangladesh, and countless clinical workers, patients, and colleagues who put in the hard work every day to improve the control of hypertension.