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Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
For many people in the remote regions of Namibia, the journey to the nearest clinic or doctor presents an obstacle that is almost impossible to overcome. The indigenous population in particular, including the San community, suffers from a lack of medical care. High rates of tuberculosis and HIV, and a lack of hygiene infrastructure, combined with long distances mean that preventive and therapeutic care is difficult to provide. Now, however, a technological innovation is offering hope: the self-sufficient PreCare platform, mounted on a standard pick-up truck, is designed to make primary healthcare available in even the most remote, hard-to-reach areas.
On 10 December 2025, representatives of the Fraunhofer spin-off S Mile Solutions and the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films IST ceremoniously handed over a prototype of the PreCare mobile-care unit to the N/a’an ku sê Foundation. “For more than two decades, our Lifeline Clinic has been providing medical care to San communities in remote settlements. The PreCare unit offers us precisely the technologies and possibilities that we need in order to reliably provide medical care where it is most urgently needed”, enthused Marlice van Vuuren, co-founder and executive director at the N/a’an ku sê Foundation.
Fraunhofer technologies for a self-sufficient “mobile medical practice”
The PreCare platform is the result of intensive research and development work within the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and collaboration with various partners in South Africa and Namibia. It is completely self-sufficient, with its own solar-power and battery-storage equipment combined with water treatment, onboard disinfectant production and cooling systems, and enables the integration of various devices for medical diagnostics, as well as communication modules for telemedicine. As a result, a mobile medical practice has been created that can perform primary medical examinations and vaccinations, as well as provide preventive and therapeutic measures even to vulnerable groups outside the larger cities and towns – independent of the power grid, water supply or surfaced roads. “Our goal was to create a platform technology that can be deployed immediately in the field and that can simultaneously be flexibly adapted to local conditions,” emphasized Dr. Martin Hamann, CEO of S Mile Solutions.
Partnership for care on the “last mile”
The handover of the prototype marks the beginning of a close collaboration between the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, S Mile Solutions and the N/a’an ku sê Foundation. While S Mile Solutions provides the vehicle and the platform on site, the Fraunhofer institutes together with S Mile Solutions train the staff of the Lifeline Clinic in the use of the platform and the technologies. The trained staff then tests the unit in the field under real conditions and provide continuous data and feedback. “The findings from the field test, combined with the collaboration, are central to the further development and optimization of future platforms and strengthen the transfer of Fraunhofer technologies into practice,” explained Frank Neumann, Team Leader at the Fraunhofer IST and co-founder of S Mile Solutions.
Sustainable research transfer: “Made in Africa for Africa”
Under the guiding principle of “Made in Africa for Africa”, the Fraunhofer Institutes for Surface Engineering and Thin Films IST and for Solar Energy Systems ISE, together with S Mile Solutions, are pursuing the goal of anchoring production, maintenance and operation in African countries in the medium to long term in order to strengthen value creation there and to establish long-term manufacturing structures. Local experts should be able to work with the technology, develop it further and operate it independently. The collaboration with the N/a’an ku sê Foundation shows how scientific expertise, engineering performance and local knowledge can work together to achieve a tangible social impact.
https://www.ist.fraunhofer.de/en/press-media/2025/fraunhofer-precare-platform-im...
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