Dr Alice Muhuhu is working to expand access to heart screening in underserved communities.
The Kenyan doctor’s portable platform aims to expand access to cardiac checks and has earned her recognition in an African engineering competition.
Kenyan doctor Alice Muhuhu has developed the MoyoECG heart screening platform to bring cardiac checks closer to underserved communities. The portable technology targets clinics where limited equipment and access to specialists can delay diagnosis.
The platform records the heart’s electrical activity, with a design intended to identify more than 50 heart conditions. It also allows frontline healthcare workers to screen patients and access diagnostic support in rural facilities.
Muhuhu’s work has earned her a place in the 2026 Africa Prize for Engineering and Innovation competition. She is one of two Kenyans among 16 shortlisted innovators in the Royal Academy of Engineering’s programme.
How MoyoECG heart screening targets access gaps
In Kenya, limited cardiac equipment and the concentration of cardiologists in major cities can make early diagnosis difficult. However, Muhuhu wants healthcare workers outside those centres to have more tools for identifying problems sooner.
Her platform also targets facilities with unreliable electricity or internet connectivity. The aim is to extend screening and diagnostic support beyond major urban hospitals.
Muhuhu argues that healthcare should focus more on identifying illness early rather than responding when conditions become severe. Earlier awareness, she says, can help patients manage their conditions and seek attention before complications develop.
Medical training sparked an engineering interest
Muhuhu trained in Kenya and abroad through scholarships and elective programmes, including opportunities in Poland, Egypt, Grenada and South Africa. Along the way, she developed an interest in combining medicine with engineering.
During a placement at a Polish teaching hospital in late 2022, she encountered extensive digital systems and medical equipment. That experience prompted her to consider how innovation could help Kenyan clinicians work within tighter resource limits.
In 2023, she helped publish research on a low-cost, Kenyan-made electrocardiogram concept. The project explored how cardiac screening and diagnosis could reach more people outside large hospitals.
From competitive sport to medical innovation
Before medicine, Muhuhu represented Kenya in swimming and triathlon, competing internationally until her mid-teens. Those experiences also exposed her to differences in resources between Kenyan athletes and competitors from wealthier countries.
She credits sport with teaching her resilience and the importance of using available resources effectively. Today, she continues practising medicine while pursuing specialist training in cardiology.
Meanwhile, fellow Kenyan prize entrant Naomi Monari is competing with Renal Roads, a fully equipped mobile dialysis clinic.
