How to Leverage Technology for Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health
Innovative health technologies are enhancing mental health care and the management of noncommunicable diseases, particularly in low and middle-income countries. These advancements offer cost-effective solutions for screening, diagnosis, and patient care, improving healthcare outcomes globally.
Around the world the burden of noncommunicable diseases has rapidly increased, with the four most common – cardiovascular diseases (heart disease and stroke), cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases – causing nearly three-quarters of deaths globally.
Innovative health technologies are playing an increasingly important role in the fight against noncommunicable diseases and have been recognized as cost-effective tools for screening, diagnosis, and management at the primary health care level, especially in low and middle-income countries.
During the pandemic, for example, telemedicine expanded the use of remote consultations and specialist access to care. The use of social media platforms in noncommunicable disease management has also grown, including for scheduling follow-up appointments, teleconsultations, and e-prescriptions.
Mental health assessment tools and chatbots are providing access for patients seeking mental health care and online therapy, especially in regions with a stigma toward such conditions and those with a shortage of trained professionals. Wearable devices and smartphone applications are enabling patients to track health indicators and share real-time data with their health-care providers.
In India, eSanjeevani enables teleconsultations for specialist services via video conferencing at the primary health care level (including health and wellness centers) and allows patient details to be sent electronically to hospitals prior to appointment.
In Indonesia, SATUSEHAT, an integrated health information system and electronic health records platform, enables data connectivity, analysis, and services across health facilities. Patient data access and referrals take into account the regulatory frameworks and standards of countries to ensure patient data privacy and security.
Other innovations to screen, diagnose, monitor, and manage noncommunicable diseases at the primary health care level include automated digital blood pressure monitoring for routine check-ups; AI-enabled “smart” stethoscopes to detect symptoms of heart conditions; and smartphone technologies for sound-based cough analysis of chronic respiratory diseases (to differentiate them from cough due to tuberculosis or COVID-19).
Innovative health technologies are transforming the management of noncommunicable diseases, particularly in low and middle-income countries, by providing cost-effective solutions for screening, diagnosis, and patient care.
To further enable the use of technologies at the primary health care level, we recommend the following:
Strengthen engagement and empowerment of patients. Acknowledging the importance of patient engagement and empowerment emphasizes the need for user-friendly interfaces and educational resources.
This includes enabling patients to take ownership of their health management through self-testing technologies, including the use of portable devices and applications for tracking and sharing health indicators with their healthcare providers.
Enhance the capacity of the health workforce. Training the health workforce to embrace technologies and incorporate them into their primary health care practice as enablers rather than as extra workload is critical.
Capacity-building is needed to ensure that the professional allied health workforce is well-equipped to use health technologies effectively, including mobile health networks and artificial intelligence.
Together with conventional methods, digital tools present huge potential to improve the health workforce by facilitating training, supervision, communication, and professional networking.
Support public–private partnerships. Advocacy for increased public–private partnerships is needed, with decision-makers leveraging the expertise of both sectors in developing, implementing, and scaling up technology-driven health-care solutions. It’s important to incentivize healthcare providers, through financial rewards or recognition programs, to encourage effective adoption and integration of technologies.
Technology-driven health innovations have shown great promise in the region and offer significant opportunities to make noncommunicable disease care more effective and accessible. However, fully unlocking their potential will depend on several factors.
Socioeconomic status, demographics, and cultural dynamics, along with varying healthcare system landscapes (infrastructure, resources, institutional and capacity issues) play a critical role in the adoption of these innovations.
The design of interventions takes into account these complexities while lessening, to the extent possible, existing ‘digital’ disparities. In this way, integration of technological solutions offers a pathway not only to manage the rising burden of noncommunicable diseases, but also to support countries to build resilient health systems and ensure quality health care for all.
The blog is based on research conducted under the regional technical assistance program Strengthening Integrated Primary Health Care Management of Noncommunicable Diseases and Conference on Bridging Gaps for NCDs and Mental Health: Leveraging Technology Innovations for Impact, in coordination with the PATH India team, led by Swati Mahajan, Priyanka Bajaj, Rachana Parikh, and Divya Wahi Malik. This blog post is part of a series on mental health and development edited by Nansubuga Isdahl and Peter Sbirakos.
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