Faces of Digital Health

Roi Shternin had medical ambitions while he was still a student. Before he turned 20 however, his physical health started deteriorating to the point where he couldn’t get up from his bed. He visited 33 doctors. “The 33rd doctor told my parents that I will never get married or have a career, so they should just get me an as comfortable bed as possible, so I can die with dignity,” Roi remembers today. Because he did not get a diagnosis, and consequently treatment, he lost a lot of his faith in healthcare. And after doctors gave up on him, he decided to try to find out the cause of his deteriorating health himself. Summary of the show: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/f065-f068-the-power-of-patients-4-episodes-series  Roi Shternin: http://roi.shternin.com/

Social isolation and loneliness are linked to several health problems such as high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, a weakened immune system, anxiety, depression, cognitive decline, Alzheimer’s disease, and even death. Can these problems be alleviated with the help of robots?  A group of French innovators created Cutii — a robot for the elderly that looks like a screen on a stand that moves around in the environment. It supports speech recognition and vocal synthesis so the users can send written messages using their voice, the robot allows remote control for family caregivers, detects falls. The robot is an IoT device that enables the elderly to meet new people — caregivers in the Cutii community. Caregivers are usually younger volunteers that share their activities (for example cooking, hiking, visiting the gallery) while being connected to an elder in real-time. The robot is currently available in France, Switzerland and the US. The average age of Cutii users is between 72 and 74. As explained by Richard Marshall, VP of Business Development at Cutii, the aim of the company is to increase the years of happy living to those that wish to age in their homes. Most people do, due to the emotional attachment they have with their home.   Show summary: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/f064-fighting-loneliness-in-older-people-with-robots-richard-marshall Cutii: https://www.cutii.io/le-concept/

Building communities is time-consuming and demands special soft skills. Aline Noizet is a digital health connector with rich experiences of building and getting to know communities in digital health. She started her digital health journey working for the digital health startup Doctoralia in Barcelona in 2011. She later became an important part of Health 2.0, followed by a position at Bayer’s G4A. She now works globally as an independent consultant, based in Barcelona. More: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com Recap: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/f063-how-to-build-a-community-in-healthcare-aline-noizet Aline's website: www.digitalhealthconnector.com

In May 2020, Medical Device Regulation goes into effect. Digital health companies providing software intended for medical use will need to comply with new requirements. According to Jovan Stevović, CEO and Co-Founder of Chino.io, companies are much better prepared for MDR than they were for GDPR. In general, medical devices are products or equipment intended for medical use. These include long-term corrective contact lenses, surgical lasers, defibrillators, hearing aids, diagnostic ultrasound machines, hip-joint implants, prosthetic heart valves. There are three classes of medical devices: Class 1, Class 2a and 2b, and Class 3. The classification depends on the intended use. Medical devices class I have the lowest perceived risk for health, those in Class 3 the highest. MDR also defines software which is designed for medicinal purposes, to be a medical device.   Recap of the show: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/f062-gdpr-mdr-and-what-you-can-do-about-you-medical-data-jovan-stevovi Chino.io: https://www.chino.io/ Free eBook: How to build MDR certified eHealth applications: https://www.chino.io/a/chino-io-ebook-medical-device-regulation-ehealth-applications

According to Clearwater cyberIntelligence Institute, one of the key issues in data breaches are user authentication deficiencies. These include password strength requirements, single sign-on controls, and locking accounts after too many failed login attempts are the three primary risks around user authentication - generic password use, physically posting passwords on a workspace, and or unencrypted emailing of credentials over external networks. If the key issue of data security and privacy protection in the past was how to archive data and prevent unauthorized access to archives, the cloud brought a whole new set of challenges. For one thing, security measures required from the personnel are getting increasingly complex. Additionally, while several advances have been made on the technological level of data protection - from different methods of encryption to high hopes stemming from AI and quantum computing, the bad guys are also using these technologies, says Chris Bowen, the Founder of and Chief Privacy & Security Officer of ClearDATA - US based company offering technology and services to assist organizations with their healthcare cloud security needs. We discussed the trends in cybersecurity in healthcare, the future, and what organizations should be mindful of when it comes to healthcare data protection. Enjoy the show, find the transcript on our website www.facesofdigitalhealth.com, and do subscribe to the show if data privacy, security and protection is on your interest. In the next episode, you will hear about GDPR and upcoming Medical Device Regulation from Jovan Stevović, Co-Founder of Chino.io.  Recap:https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/f061-why-do-so-many-data-breaches-and-cybsecurity-attacks-happen-in-healthcare-chris-bowen  ClearDATA: https://www.cleardata.com/ Chris Bowen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cbowen1/

Nine opinion leaders in digital health - John Nosta, Rafael Grossmann, Aline Noizet, Brian de Francesca, Irma Rastagayeva, Eugene Borukhovich, Maneesh Juneja and Nana bit Avragim and Levi Shapiro - answered a seemingly simple and open-ended question: What are your predictions about trends in digital health and healthcare in 2020? 1. Experience shift 2. Positive future for digital therapeutics 3. Tech giants moving forward, on-premise healthcare increasing in the US 4. Europe: retail health and new innovation efforts 5. Rethinking of knowledge transfer and fundraising models in digital health 6. Quantum computing and telecommunications regulators  7. 3D printing is on 8. Shifts in the mindset about innovation, knowledge transfer and financing Recap: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/f60-2020-redefined-experience-further-progress-of-dtx-and-new-expectation-about-investments-quantum-computing Twitter: https://twitter.com/zajctjasa

South Africa is a restless country with Race and ethnicity still causing a lot of tension in the society. On the healthcare side, there are only 0.9 doctors per 1000 people in the country. Out of 59 million people, 9 million people access healthcare through private providers; the rest are in the public system. Soon, however, the system might change with the introduction of National Health Insurance, as you will hear from Sheraan Amod - CEO and founder of South Africa’s largest and fastest growing online healthcare booking platform. Over 100,000 patients and 1,500 providers connect with each other every month via RecoMed.  In this discussion, Sheraan talks about his transition into healthcare, shares his views on the development of healthcare in the country and plans for RecoMed, which allows patients to leave positive recommendations about providers on the platform. Negative reviews are sent to providers privately.    Recap: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/f056-f060-digital-health-in-africa-series-tanzania-nigeria-south-africa-rwanda  Podcast website: www.facesofdigitalheath.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/zajctjasa   RecoMed: https://www.recomed.co.za/ Sheraan Amod: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheraanamod/

In 2016, the UK based company Babylon Health, radically transforming access to primary care in the NHS in the UK, opened a subsidiary in Rwanda. The Rwandan version ob Babylon is called Babyl, and has by today attracted over 2 out of 12 million people in Rwanda. Out of 2 million people, 700.000 consulted Babyls healthcare workers, says Patrick Singa Muhoza, Medical Director at Babylon health Rwanda. Rwanda has 12 million people and a severely understaffed healthcare system with 0.1 doctors per 1000 people. According to some locals, the problem is not only a lack of doctors but also poor knowledge, which can cause extreme differences in second opinions, among other things.   Recap: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/f056-f060-digital-health-in-africa-series-tanzania-nigeria-south-africa-rwanda

As of 2016, Nigeria was Africa’s largest economy and most populous nation. By 2050, Nigeria is expected to be one of the ten largest economies in the world. Healthcare wise, the country is in dire need of reform and reinforcement in medical forces. According to the World bank, there are 0.4 doctors per 1000 people and 1.5 nurses and midwives per 1000 people. Ocoche Ubenyi is one of the country’s doctors eager to improve the situation in healthcare. He is the founder of Nimedix Ecosysyem - a blockchain project aiming to improve healthcare in Nigeria through technology and online solutions, enabling patients to own their healthcare data and share it to whom they wish in the healthcare sector. Written recap: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/f056-f060-digital-health-in-africa-series-tanzania-nigeria-south-africa-rwanda

Africa has 54 countries, that differ a lot in terms of their quality of care, political situation, and innovation. This short series explores healthcare in 4 African countries: - the most populous African country Nigeria with 200 million people, presented by a medical doctor and entrepreneur Ocoche Ubenyi, CEO of Nimedix Ecosystem,- South Africa with 59 million people is presented by a serial entrepreneur Sheraan Amod, currently the CEO RecoMed - South Africa’s largest doctor’s appointment booking platform. - Rwanda - a country with 12,6 million people and less than 700 doctors is presented by Patrick Singa Muhosa, Chief Medical Officer of Babyl - the Rwandan version of the UK company Babylon, offering online or phone consultations with doctors. This first part explores Tanzania, with 58 million people. Mariatheresa Samson Kadushi is an ICT specialist and an entrepreneur, with rich experience running a tech company in Africa, while participating in country-level initiatives reforming communities; and also assisting small businesses, corporate companies and investors flourish. At the moment, Mariatheresa is fully engaged in building Mobile Afya (M-afya), a company trying to increase access to accurate medical information in Africa. She explains the current state of healthcare in Tanzania, and the challenges women face as entrepreneurs and seekers of medical information and help. More about Mobile Afya: https://www.mobileafya.com/