Despite initial fears that the COVID-19 pandemic would devastate Africa owing to few doctors and ventilators, with up to 250 million coronavirus cases projected by at least one model, the continent has demonstrated considerable resilience and resourcefulness in handling the first wave.
The report below highlights these and other prevalent insights on what is shaping healthcare in Africa today, offered by speakers during Omnia Health Live Africa.
Virtual (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies have grown in popularity as they can immerse users in novel situations and environments by simulating the necessary stimuli. However, when using VR or AR technologies such as head-worn displays, users frequently report symptoms of nausea, disorientation, and sleepiness. This is more commonly referred to as cybersickness, a form of motion sickness that has been caused by the use of technology.
Associate Professor of Psychology and Director of the Neuroimaging Center at NYU Abu Dhabi, Bas Rokers, and a team of researchers have evaluated the state of research on cybersickness and formulated a research and development agenda to eliminate cybersickness, allowing for broader adoption of immersive technologies.
In the paper titled Identifying Causes of and Solutions for Cybersickness in Immersive Technology: Reformulation of a Research and Development Agenda, published in the International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, Rokers and his team discuss the process of creating a research and development agenda based on participant feedback from a workshop titled Cybersickness: Causes and Solutions and analysis of related research.
The new agenda recommends prioritising the creation of powerful, lightweight, and untethered head-worn displays, reducing visual latencies, standardising symptom and aftereffect measurement, developing improved countermeasures, and improving the understanding of the magnitude of the problem and its implications for job performance.
The results of this study have identified a clear path towards finding a solution for cybersickness and allowing for the widespread use of immersive technologies. In addition to its use in entertainment and gaming, VR and AR have significant applications in the domains of education, manufacturing, training, healthcare, retail, and tourism.
Meanwhile, researchers at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) have built GingerVR, the first open-source Unity software tool kit that allows developers to use proven techniques and innovative solutions against cybersickness in future extended reality environments.
"GingerVR can be applied to any Unity application, be it a game, enterprise application or job training," said John Quarles, an associate professor in the Department of Computer Science who along with Ph.D. student Samuel Ang developed the tool kit.
"Cybersickness is a threat to the overall user acceptance of VR, which has a potentially huge impact on the VR industry. The negative symptoms experienced by a user can decrease human performance, limit learning and hinder decision making," said Quarles. "It has been a problem in VR since the creation of the technology and is still not totally understood as to why it occurs and in whom."
An event to celebrate Movember, the month that highlights the importance of men's health, was held in Abu Dhabi on 21st November. Movember is the global movement of growing moustaches in November to raise awareness of men's health issues like prostate cancer and testicular cancer.
In light of Movember as well as the issues faced by cancer patients, caused by the globe’s focus on COVID-19, Stas Louca, Managing Director at Healthcare and Hospitality architecture practice, H+A brings to light how the latest in medical technology and research is able to provide a new way of approaching and treating cancer.
Precision oncology is a specific way healthcare providers can offer and plan cancer related care based on a person's genetics. This form of preventative healthcare looks at how a specific gene might affect a person's risk of developing cancer or, if they already have it, how certain treatments might be affected by their genes.
It also looks at a person’s likelihood of developing certain types of cancers. Precision oncology is set up to help make a more accurate diagnosis and improve treatment. It can also help people make decisions about healthy habits, earlier screening tests and other steps towards prevention if they are at risk for a particular cancer.
In recent years, precision medicine has transformed oncology diagnostics and treatment. Technological advances for characterizing patients’ genomic profiles, combined with the development of digital means of allowing patients to access their medical records and easily share them, along with the tools to analyze them, have allowed clinicians to tailor treatments to prevent the onset of potential illnesses.
This will be especially useful for the prevention of cancer as today, one in three people are affected by it. This may also prevent or delay the need to use treatments with less favorable side effects that are also potentially more costly.
Advances in genomic medicine are revolutionizing our understanding of and treatments for cancer. Molecular-guided therapy in oncology represents a proactive approach to treatment and has the potential to reduce the time and financial expenditures of ineffective treatments, thus increasing the patient’s duration and quality of life.
Both breast cancer and melanoma have well-validated molecular targets that are actionable with FDA-approved therapies. These advances are also changing the diagnostic and treatment platforms of other forms of cancer.
In addition to genomic data, other forms of precision data are on the horizon, including transcriptomics, epigenomics, proteomics, metabolomics and digital pathology from the tumor, surrounding tissues, circulating blood, and other body fluids.
Technological evolution allows treatment across multiple cancer types. The recent technology introduction of Pencil Beam Scanning (PBS) allows for higher beam accuracy, expanding the range of cancer sites potentially treated by Proton Beam Therapy (PBT).
In the UK roughly 9,000 patients per annum are treated with PBT with around 200 of these patients sent overseas by the National Health Service at an average treatment cost of £114,000 according to the Office of National Statistics UK, this marks a huge opportunity for the Middle East to become an oncology treatment destination.
Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer across the Middle East and globally. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2018, the UAE had 4,707 new cancer cases and 2,079 deaths. Saudi Arabia had 24,485 new cases and 10,518 deaths. It is estimated that by 2040 there will be 29.5m cases globally.
The increases in the incidence of different types of cancer in Saudi Arabia in the past decade could be due to the revolutionary change in socioeconomic status and it has been rewarding to see a national plan established for cancer prevention, screening and therapy. In its efforts to align with 2030 Vision and satisfying the related strategic objective of National Transformation Program (NTP) 2020 “Promoting Public Health and Prevention”, the Saudi government has taken a national healthcare decision as well as support policy makers to develop evidence informed health policies.
The healthcare sector in the United Arab Emirates has witnessed huge developments that have made it possible for the UAE health system to compete with the top international health systems and gained a prominent presence amongst leading specialist healthcare provision destinations, globally, according to the cancer incidence in United Arab Emirates annual report of the UAE - national cancer registry – 2014.
While cancer is the third leading cause of death in the UAE behind cardiovascular disease and accidents, approximately 4,500 new cases are reported each year and the UAE government has vowed to lower the number of fatalities from cancer by 2021 with programs encouraging regular screenings and the building of more modern facilities like the GICC.
Across the Middle East we already have all the key ingredients to become a frontrunner in precision oncology. There is buy in from governments to address the growing concern over local speciality treatments as well as a commitment to becoming Promoting Public Health and Prevention, specialist hospitals and wellness centers.
Anfas Medical Care Health Group’s (AMCHG) Wellness Village project in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia was in fact designed to create the first of its kind, world class, preventative healthcare and wellness campus. The Wellness Village incorporates a long-term care centre, women and children’s facilities, wellness clinics, a boutique wellness hotel and spa, sports fitness facilities, health-related F&B and retail outlets.
The site provides a holistic end-to-end approach to healthcare with a focus on preventative care for the local population as well as visitors, from birth to retirement age. This type of centre can be modified to cater specifically to precision oncology and should be attached to specialist centres like the Abu Dhabi Proton Centre (ADPC), part of the existing Gulf International Cancer Centre (GICC) in Abu Dhabi.
This type of set up will create a destination for oncology prevention and treatment. Using the latest medical advancements will enable clinicians to reduce mortality rates and even prevent cancer onsets.
Hospitals are expensive to run and the current general hospital model is coming under pressure to change. Technological advances will impact the design of all future healthcare facilities and as an outcome, hospitals will be smaller and more efficient, especially around the outpatient setting.
While specialty centres will continue to be a necessity, wellness centres are an evolution of the outpatient clinic and should be affiliated with speciality centres for an end-to-end solution.
The pandemic has led to major disruption to health services around the world, including disruption to child and maternal health services. According to a World Bank expert COVID-19 has put years of global progress to end preventable child deaths in serious jeopardy.
In Africa in particular, maternal checkups and child vaccinations have fallen because many people fear catching the disease at clinics and hospitals.
In our latest Patient Talk episode Prof Salome Maswime, Head of Global Surgery at the University of Cape Town and Omnia Health Live Africa speaker, shares her perspective on the problem.
Prof Maswime is recognised as a maternal health and global surgery expert because of her research contributions on caesarean sections. She is an advocate for women’s health rights, and equity in surgical and maternal care. She is also an advisor and consultant to several institutions.
Recently she was announced as one of the World Economic Forum’s Class of 2020 Young Scientists, a group at the forefront of scientific discovery.
This article was originally published on Cityscape Intelligence.
More investment - at a reduced cost - is expected in healthcare and infrastructure development in the future, thanks to increased privatisation in the industry.
According to Sandeep Sinha, Head of Healthcare MENA at JLL, healthcare infrastructure has a very strong amalgamation with real estate investment, foreseeing many opportunities for both infrastructure development and real estate companies.
“This combination has created a very strong opportunity for development and investment in the healthcare sector,” he said on Day Two of Cityscape Summit 2020. “If you try to analyse – from a healthcare point of view – the different business operating models in the healthcare industry, typically the self-development is the traditional way.”
The second model Sinha mentioned is increased international accreditation taking place, on top of self-development, while the third is called PropCo-OpCo-ManCo.
“This is where the [regional] healthcare development system is headed,” he said. “This structure has changed the healthcare landscape drastically. When you look at the revenues, they come from rental revenue to be paid by the hospital and other retail shops.”
This has led to several advantages for real estate developers, as well as healthcare providers, as they created mutual synergies.
“Real estate will have an opportunity to get a tenant who is long and sustainable and will continue to give a sustainable yield for 20 to 25 years,” Sinha added.
He also dubbed it a sustainable business model, due to the healthcare industry being considered recession-free. It has maintained pre, during, and is expected to maintain in a post-COVID-19 era as well.
He also mentioned healthcare real estate investment trusts (REITs), which is a relatively new concept in the region that has been successful in other parts of the world.
“It can be a clinical or medical centre, pharma manufacturing, or long-term rehabilitation,” he added. “They invest into the dedicated healthcare assets and will develop them. They’re typically listed and have a different equity model.”
Globally, there are more than 30 healthcare listed REITs and their market cap is “easily in the upwards of $200 billion”. Sinha described healthcare REITs as an opportunity for investment that is growing in the region.
Lastly, he spoke of public-private partnerships (PPPs), which are evolving with many bids under progress across the GCC. Some examples he gave include Saudi Arabia with Al Ansar hospital PPP and the Ministry of Health PPP for Extended Care; the UAE with Pure Health PPP and the Ministry of Health and Prevention, and the Dubai Health Authority’s Cardiology care centre.
“Half a dozen PPP models are coming up in Saudi Arabia and Oman is also coming up with five to six PPPs,” Sinha said. “It has a higher investment from a real estate point of view.”
He concluded with key outlooks that will be an opportunity for healthcare providers, including more investment in healthcare development and infrastructure development in the region.
“Healthcare providers will now improve their cashflow,” he concluded. “Valuation of healthcare assets will be more realistic, the quality of healthcare will be better, and international players have started entering the region now. You will see lots of healthcare PPPs coming up in the market, which will reduce the cost of healthcare on the government and [shift] more towards privatisation.”
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A year after the launch of its J750™ Digital Anatomy™ 3D printer, Stratasys Ltd. announced it has successfully sold and installed the system at healthcare institutions and medical service providers in major markets across the globe, including the United States, China, Italy, Spain, and Australia.
Seattle Children’s Hospital, VA Health Care System, Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami, Medilife and BIO3DModel in Italy, and Tknika and AIJU in Spain all recently turned to the innovative new system to help improve patient care and accelerate medical innovation.
The J750 Digital Anatomy 3D printer produces anatomical models that mimic the actual feel, responsiveness, and biomechanics of human anatomy. Models can be punctured, sutured, cut, and physically manipulated like actual human tissue. This capability minimizes the use of animals and cadavers for clinical trials and surgical training. Hospitals, healthcare institutions and medical schools can use these lifelike 3D models to improve clinical evaluation for a wide range of pathologies, as well as bring new medical devices to market faster.
Seattle Children’s Hospital purchased a J750 Digital Anatomy 3D printer early this year and installed it in its new 3D Printing Lab. A major motivation for getting the printer was the ability to create very soft models in-house to duplicate things like airways, livers, and hearts.
“The earliest prints using TissueMatrix material were instrumental for understanding the optimal fit for a custom tracheostomy tube, something that would have been impossible with the best materials that we had access to only six months ago,” said Seth Friedman, Ph.D, Manager of Innovation Imaging and Simulation Modeling in the Improvement and Innovation Department.
“I believe that by making models in parallel to a patient’s care journey we can truly make a difference. Now integrated into a systemic program called Custom Care, we have little doubt this new technology will help us provide the best care possible to our patients and families.”
Nicklaus Children’s Hospital upgraded to the new J750 Digital Anatomy 3D printer from an existing Eden 260 in the Cardiovascular Surgery Program. The upgrade was a collaboration between the NCHS Personalized Medicine Initiative and the Cardiovascular Surgery Advanced Research Projects Laboratory and was made possible by the support of the Bailey Foundation and donors to NCHS.
Dr. Redmond Burke, chief of Cardiovascular Surgery and co-director of the Heart Program, said it’s now a critical part of surgical planning.
“It’s very valuable to be able to actually cut open a model to get a very clear vision of what we’ll see in the operating room,” he said. “We believe this is a significant advance that will allow us to reduce the trauma of patients undergoing complex heart surgery.” He said the new 3D printer also opens up completely new avenues in teaching and patient care.
In Spain, two technology institutions have invested in the Digital Anatomy 3D printer to pioneer their medical service offering. Both cite the unrivalled ultra-realism and tactile nature of the models as a significant competitive advantage.
Nacho Sandoval, Additive Manufacturing Lead at AIJU, said, “Previously, we could not produce models replicating the organic materials frequently requested by the medical sector, let alone realistically simulating the behaviors of human tissue. What is also remarkable is that the precision of the Digital Anatomy printer offers higher resolutions than those obtained with a CT or MRI, which are usually above half a millimeter.
We’re already seeing vast interest from a wide range of medical practitioners for these types of models in real-world applications.”
Gorka Baqueriza, Additive Manufacturing Project Manager, Tknika, added: “We see this technology having a significant impact in several areas of healthcare – from medical training to pre-surgery planning to patient care. The level of realism that can be achieved for such a wide range of anatomical models and pathologies is incredible.”
In Italy, President of BIO3DModel, Eng. Roberto Rizzo, said he has witnessed particular interest in the Digital Anatomy 3D printer for surgical training.
“This technology enables a drastic reduction in time training surgeons, in particular the ability to investigate for any specific pathological conditions prior to the actual surgery,” he stated. “For example, until now it was not possible to produce hollow vascular systems down to 1mm wall thickness and diameter. This incredible detail could be the difference between life or death for a patient.”
Emanuele D’Angeli, General Manager, Medilife, adds: “The models produced on the Digital Anatomy 3D printer offer the same soft touch and variable density of actual human tissues and organs, which today is impossible to achieve with any other existing 3D printing technology. We are currently testing several applications, including the creation of an artificial limb.
The aim is to reproduce the natural external appearance of the limb in terms of texture and color shade, while also replicating the lifelike physical feel that we experience with human touch.”
More information on the J750 Digital Anatomy 3D printer is available online. In addition, Dr. Burke shared his experience with the new 3D printer on YouTube.
As a small nation (a population of just over 1.8 million) with a celebrated industrial heritage, Northern Ireland isn’t a place you might immediately associate with technological discovery. However, its keen focus on the future, teamed with the region’s entrepreneurial tradition, academic strengths and international connections, has created a unique ecosystem over recent decades; one that is providing a welcoming home to many of the sectors that are transforming our world for the better.
This approach to collaboration has been the driving force behind Northern Ireland’s burgeoning cyber security industry - an achievement that has made Belfast the number one location globally for US cyber security projects – and others, including fintech, data analytics and health tech. Indeed, the Financial Times listed the capital city in the world’s top 10 Digital Economies of the Future - the only UK city outside London to be listed – an incredible accolade that proves this approach is working.
Health tech has been a more recent area of growth; yet its origins are founded in Northern Ireland’s long-standing heritage as a provider of quality medical training. Queen’s University in Belfast, for example, has provided medical training for over 150 years, and today it accepts over 250-300 admissions each year.
But what is it about this ecosystem that has allowed technology, IT, data analytics and medicine to collide? I’ll explain.
First, let’s explore some of the innovations taking place today.
Northern Ireland’s life sciences sector has developed a range of specialities including precision medicine, diagnostics, e-health and data analytics, making it a home to a vibrant cluster of more than 250 businesses operating in these fields.
Major players in the health tech sector include the likes of Diaceutics, which works with pharmaceutical firms on diagnostic testing and data analytics to bring more personalised medicine to patients. Neurovalens, which specialises in combining neuroscience and technology to tackle global health challenges, is also a key player, while Randox, a world leader in the in-vitro diagnostics industry, has been a long-standing member of this burgeoning community, having been established over 35 years ago.
The region has also welcomed Stryker, Bemis, G&L Scientific, and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, a global leader in biopharmaceuticals. Almac Group, is a home-grown global player which provides an extensive range of integrated services to companies within the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors globally.
This combination of home-grown success stories and inward investment from larger players has really helped the industry flourish and lay down roots. But there’s another element that’s been critical to its growth: people.
The role our two main universities, Queen’s University Belfast and Ulster University, play in attracting these companies to invest here and in the growth of our home-grown health tech sector should not be underestimated.
Both rank among the top 10 universities in the UK for bioscience research and more than 1,000 researchers work in the region’s Centres of Excellence.
Those which are particular drivers in the health tech sector include Ulster University’s Connected Health Innovation Centre (CHIC) which is focused on business led research in the area of connected health. The University is also home to the Intelligent Systems Research Centre which provides a state-of-the-art research environment for bio-inspired neuro-engineering, brain-computer interfacing, computational neuroscience, cognitive robotics and, instrumentation. It also provides facilities for research in ambient intelligence and wireless sensor networks.
QUB research centres of excellence include The Patrick G Johnston Cancer Research Centre, Precision Medicine Centre QUB, and The Wellcome-Wolfson Institute for Experimental Medicine whose researchers have been awarded a grant of £295,626 in a bid to find an urgently needed treatment for COVID-19, led by Professor of Molecular Virology, Ultan Power.
These facilities provide an unbeatable base for discovery and innovation that fuels home-grown entrepreneurship. Indeed, it is the strength of these facilities’ collaboration with industry that lends Northern Ireland its competitive edge. While many investors have cited the country’s skilled workforce as a major draw, it’s the universities’ willingness to work closely with businesses to furnish their students with sought after skills that is among the key reasons why they have taken an interest in our region.
Taking this feedback on-board, the Health Innovation Research Alliance Northern Ireland (HIRANI) was launched in 2019 to supercharge collaboration. By bringing Queen’s University Belfast, Ulster University and key Northern Ireland private and public partners together, this alliance aims to provide ‘one voice’ for the industry and enable the sector to collectively promote and strategically position itself nationally and internationally.
In addition to university based research centres, co-working spaces and incubation hubs are springing up across Northern Ireland and are adding further weight to our supportive ecosystem.
Ormeau Baths, a former Victorian Bath House which has been transformed into a co-working space, is now the beating heart of Northern Ireland’s indigenous tech start-up scene and is home to over 200 members from almost every industry imaginable. Some of the health tech start-ups based here include the likes of MedAll Ltd - an app for healthcare professionals to develop their medical career portfolio and collaborate with others on research, and Overwatch Research Ltd a company specialising in in-vivo preclinical tracking software for labs.
Construction is now also underway at Kings Hall Health and Wellbeing Park to create a healthcare hub of the future. The first phase of the £100m development will see the construction of Dataworks, a new precision medicine hub designed to attract data-focused medical companies to a secure and collaborative space. Medtech pioneer Diaceutics, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange, has already signed up as an anchor tenant with others are expected to follow suit.
Further to this, Invest Northern Ireland also provides businesses with a range of services to help set-up, innovate and grow. From access to specialist knowledge, including academic and research organisations, to initial financial and recruitment support.
A testament to the effectiveness of this supportive environment is that despite having a relatively modest number of start-ups compared to the rest of the UK, Northern Ireland-based companies are best at surpassing a £1m turnover in their first three years — nearly three per cent succeed, compared to 1.9 per cent in the rest of the UK.
From these foundations, many Northern Ireland health tech start-ups have begun to take their innovations to markets around the globe and there have been some notable examples already this year.
In March, Cirdan - which has created of a suite of innovative informatics and imaging products - received £1.5m in funding to boost Research & Development. This follows on from a new deal with a US distributor and a multi-million dollar contract to support laboratories in Singapore and Malaysia.
Earlier this year, Neurovalens was one of 30 firms to be selected for Tech Nation's Upscale 5.0 programme, which supports fast-growing tech companies. This follows swiftly on from a recent £750,000 funding win to support the launch of its Modius Sleep product - its pioneering drug-free, non-invasive headset which actively stimulates key neurons in the brain to improve sleep - in the US.
In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic a number of Northern Ireland-based organisations have been quick to respond and have again demonstrated the power of the region’s collaborative approach.
County Antrim’s Randox Laboratories has worked alongside German industrial giant Bosch to develop a new rapid test for Covid-19 in less than six weeks. It’s one of the world’s first fully-automated molecular diagnostic tests and can detect a SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection in patients in under two and a half hours.
As you can see, Northern Ireland’s medtech sector is in rude health.
The collaborative ecosystem which we are continually building upon, is not only helping to attract inward investment but is enabling the innovators based in Northern Ireland to shape one of the world’s most critical industries.
Northern Ireland is fast becoming a health tech hub of global importance and our ambitions show no signs of waning.
As we continue to strengthen the partnerships between academia and industry, and invest in new incubation hubs and research centres, we look forward to welcoming more of the world’s leading life sciences organisations to our shores. And, of course, seeing the impact our home-grown innovations have on people’s health around the globe.
To find out more about Northern Ireland’s Life and Health Sciences sector and the support on offer to businesses looking to invest visit Invest NI.com
On 4 November, an Omnia Health Live Americas panel addressed the topic "Medical devices: remote care and connectivity". Participating were Fatima Pinho, Deloitte director; Fernando Rocha, Sales Director at Getinge; Marivan Abrahão, Clinical Director of Avesta Informação e Saúde; and Raimundo Nonato, Healthcare Business Development Director at Intersystems Brasil.
The meeting was moderated by Pinho, who commented: “In the healthcare context, the market is quite large, with many players connected. However, these connections are not always the best way of thinking about the centre of care, which is the patient ”.
For Fernando Rocha, technologies can be better designed to focus on analysis and data collection: “Today, there are several challenges in Brazilian healthcare. And the best way to get through these barriers is to have all medical devices connected, which is one of the biggest challenges for companies ”.
Abrahão revealed how opportunities are emerging for companies able to outsource data integration. In his view, the evolution of medical informatics still provokes resistance among doctors. "The first barrier we have to overcome is to convince doctors of the importance of medical devices for patient care," Abrahão added.
Finally, Nonato spoke about information collection happening on either end in hospital management systems. “It is pure information; it was generated within the system. When the institution does not invest in the integration of this pure data, there is rework and a lack of communication between the systems, and the tendency is inefficiency,” he concluded.
German paint manufacturer Caparol Arabia has successfully tested CapaCare Protect, one of its innovative paint products, to demonstrate its use in the fight against Coronavirus. The tests were conducted in the United States and proved the efficacy of the solution in curbing the spread of Coronavirus and other microbes.
The paint product is specially formulated with unique patented SILVERbac technology to persistently inhibit the growth of microbes such as viruses (E.g. Human coronavirus), bacteria (E.g. gram +ve and gram -ve), fungi, moulds and algae on the coated surface, decreasing the spread of contagious diseases.
The anti-microbial action of silver is dependent upon the bioavailability of the silver ion (Ag+). It has a broad spectrum of activity within microorganisms interacting with cell membranes interfering with membrane permeability and the proton motive force. Silver also inhibits respiratory chain enzymes and inter chelates with DNA, so is a broad-spectrum agent. Silver is viricidal and kills viruses by inhibiting various essential enzymes required for binding, replication and reproduction.
Microbiologist Professor Val Edwards-Jones from the Manchester Metropolitan University reviewed CapaCare Protect for its effective anti-microbial properties: “These results showed excellent activity from 15mins through to 24hrs against two common bacterial pathogens which account for so many healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) annually. In addition, viricidal activity was demonstrated against human coronavirus at 30 minutes and H1N1 influenzae A at 2 hours.”
If the paint or film was to be used within a healthcare setting, then any splashes or aerosol contamination with viruses caused by sneezing or coughing would be reduced on contact or within 30 minutes. “This would be hugely beneficial for the maintenance of a healthy environment, especially where cleaning of walls etc. is difficult in communal areas,” Edwards-Jones explains.
“Many organisms are known to survive for long periods of time in the environment and certainly where there are splashes of organic fluid on the walls of hospital rooms, or other high touch areas (doors, door-ways) then using a paint with intrinsic anti-microbial properties would be hugely beneficial and hopefully help reduce environmentally associated HAIs,” he adds.
One of the most relevant aspects of today's health landscape is data integration, a topic that is as complex as it is comprehensive. It includes technology, management, compliance and all its derivatives, such as business intelligence, costs, governance, security, reputation and so on. The list is long.
The Omnia Health Lives America webinar "Data integration for population health" brought together experts to share perspectives on the topic under the moderation of Henry Sznejder, Director of Clinical Analytics and Artificial Intelligence at United Health Group Brazil (UHG).
Fábio Gonçalves, Chief Value & Access Officer at Hospital Care, a holding company that administers health services, highlighted the need for multidisciplinary teams to obtain population data. "Within a company, we deal with various types of information that need to be validated by a multidisciplinary committee to arrive at population data," he said. “The intersection of information needs to be aligned with the intersection of knowledge.”
João Vicente Alvarenga, IT Director of the Hermes Pardini Group, addressed the generation of value from the integration of data for the entire health chain, based on reducing time and cost. "Sharing data and information will resolve structural issues in the health sector," said the executive.
For Lasse Koivisto, CEO of Prontmed, if the information is organised and the data integrated between the different actors in the chain, the patient experience will be much better. “I see the following as trends: technology, personnel training, process optimisation and changing the cultural model,” he concluded.
