NAIROBI, KENYA: On 20 November 2018, Allan Chepkoy emerged as the grand winner of Busara Center for Behavioral Economics’ first annual data hackathon in Nairobi after producing the strongest statistical model for predicting who may be suffering from depression.
Chepkoy said the victory left him “Sh 20,000 richer” after what he described as long hours of teaching himself machine learning engineering. He added that the result showed the value of persistence and self-learning.
He had already collected three hackathon prizes that year, including BBC’s “Beyond Fake News” hackathon.
The competition drew 70 participants who worked in teams using data from thousands of households in rural Nyanza. Busara Center, a local research company, said the goal was to show how data can support mental health work and improve awareness around depression.
Daniel Mellow, Busara Center’s Data Specialist, said mental health resources remain limited in Kenya and across Africa. He said machine learning could help direct scarce treatment to the people who need it most and urged Kenya’s tech community to apply its skills to health and mental well-being problems.
Participants relied on data from a 2015 Busara Center study in Siaya County, where more than 2,800 people from 1,440 households were surveyed on family composition, economic activity, financial position and health. They were also asked to use a psychological screening instrument for depression.
Alfred Ongere of AI Kenya said the information gathered from such events was “invaluable” and called for more stakeholders to be involved so the lessons could have direct impact on the ground.
The article noted that household surveys are relatively cheap and routine to collect, but depression screening is sensitive and requires referral protocols for serious cases. It added that if machine learning can identify people at risk using routine survey data, clinicians could save time by focusing on those cases first.
The prize pool stood at Sh 50,000, with Sh20,000 going to first place, Sh10,000 to second place, Sh7,500 to third place, Sh5,000 to fourth place and Sh2,500 to fifth place.
The World Health Organization estimates that 1.3 million Kenyans are suffering from depression, and says Africa has the highest rate of untreated depression of any continent.
Busara Center said the hackathon was intended to encourage data-driven thinking in mental health and to show how community events can help nurture talent among developers, students and others interested in machine learning.
Preserved archive date: 20 November 2018.
