Case Study: AEDES achieves reliable offline, paperless medical records in the DRC with Couchbase

AEDES revolutionizes healthcare systems in the Democratic Republic of Congo

AEDES, a public health consulting organization, developed CERHIS to bring digital medical records to small and medium hospitals in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The project faced steep barriers: near-universal reliance on paper registers, limited budgets, frequent power outages, harsh heat and humidity, poor internet connectivity, and a workforce largely unfamiliar with desktop IT—conditions that made conventional cloud or desktop solutions impractical.

AEDES deployed cost-effective rugged Android tablets stored and charged in solar-powered locked units and built the system on the Couchbase Data Platform (Couchbase Server on Ubuntu plus Couchbase Lite on tablets). The schema-less NoSQL model lets each patient record live as a single document, local replication supports offline work and syncing, and the solution runs on commodity hardware with minimal technical staff. The result is resilient, scalable digital records that speed access to patient history, improve hospital reporting and management, and enable better patient care even in unreliable power and connectivity environments.

AEDES

Loïc Vaes

CERHIS Project Manager