Digital health and the End TB Strategy: a history of the future?
| Domains* | Examples from… | |
|---|---|---|
| Today | Tomorrow | |
| Integrated, patient-centred care and prevention | Video-observed therapy | Edible microchips transmitting to mobile electronic devices; registering the gesture of a specific patient taking a given pill |
| Databasing laboratory results and patient parameters | Connected diagnostics Tracking disease biomarkers via ‘wearables’ | |
| Point of care testing | Digitisation of biological material (genome, chemistry), integration of data from multiple sources and remote consultation of experts | |
| Standardising anti-TB medication | Intimate monitoring of biomarkers to optimise care | |
| Internet-based reference and eLearning content | Decision aids informed by Big Data; advanced machine learning techniques Alerting people of exposure risks from real-time analysis of environmental and other data | |
| Bold policies and supportive systems | Data management shifts from paper to electronic systems | Seamless interoperability of computer networks and cloud-based data sets |
| GIS mapping of patients and service providers | Real-time localisation of individuals Unique identifiers which incorporate biomarker data | |
| Conditional cash transfers as an extension of micro-financing | Rewarding behaviour linked to therapeutic effect Personal genome data as a patient asset | |
| Strengthening logistic information systems | Real-time tracking of equipment and consumables | |
| Intensified research and innovation | Digitising data from studies | Mining data sets In silico modelling of interventions using new drugs and vaccines |
| eLearning to build capacity in conducting and translating research | ||
*Corresponding to the three pillars of the WHO End TB Strategy.3
TB, tuberculosis.