CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS HAVE AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF HEALTH TECHNOLOGY TO ELIMINATE VIRAL HEPATITIS .
“ Technology and innovation allow us to connect and bring communities together , and that ’ s crucial when you are looking to enhance the patient journey .”
CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS HAVE AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF HEALTH TECHNOLOGY TO ELIMINATE VIRAL HEPATITIS .
Currently , out of 71 million people living with hepatitis C , only 20 % know they are ill . That ’ s 57 million men , women and children at risk of developing cirrhosis and liver cancer . Given there ’ s a cure for this condition , it is imperative we “ find the missing millions ”. World Hepatitis Alliance ( WHA ) is calling for a scale-up of diagnosis to find those affected by viral hepatitis and link them to care . Technology can be an effective weapon to increase access to testing and treatment .
Recently , WHA members in Pakistan ‘ The Health Foundation ’ and the ‘ Gujranwala Liver Foundation ’ have been working with Mastercard on a pilot scheme to treat hepatitis C patients . The project tailors the ‘ Mastercard Aid ’ technology to the local environment , delivering impact in this field . Technology and innovation allow us to connect and bring communities together , and that ’ s crucial when you are looking to enhance the patient journey . Telemedicine , such as ‘ Project Echo ’, is now being widely used globally to train health care professionals and raise awareness of hepatitis . Aside from democratising knowledge , software is currently being rolled out in a number of countries for use in different settings , including prisons , hospitals and primary care centres to remind doctors to test for hepatitis C should other results indicate they are at risk .
“ Technology and innovation allow us to connect and bring communities together , and that ’ s crucial when you are looking to enhance the patient journey .”
When technology is tailored to the end user it has a greater impact . Nowhere is this more apparent than in health technology . Key to the success of any health innovation is patient involvement in its development to establish the needs of the patient group . WHA members across the world are leading the way by collaborating with private sector partners to develop innovative solutions to eliminate hepatitis .
“ The patients who used the technology have been excited and feel that they are being provided with some very high-level hi-tech healthcare It was a great learning experience to work with this technology and we hope that the learnings can be used to create more holistic healthcare delivery .”
Dr Laila Rizvi , Executive Director The Health Foundation ( Pakistan )
6 October 2018 hep Voice