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Digital health is the star of HIMSS24

Balance ofl meeting from lovexair

 

The Lovexair Foundation was founded 11 years ago with a clear focus on the opportunities offered by e-health care within the European Union. Not much has changed since then: The promotion of digital health remains a priority on the European agenda.   

And, from the perspective of respiratory health, and in the global context in which we move, it could not be more urgent. 

According to a recent survey by the World Economic Forum, health is now one of the main concerns of European society. However, the resources we have to deal with population ageing, climate change, war, economic crises, or the increase in infectious diseases, remain scarce, outdated and limited. 

In this context, #HIMSS24Europe met in Rome, May 29-31, to the main opinion actors and leaders from around the world to discuss and advance this important agenda.

 

The meeting confirmed that there is room for optimism: European healthcare systems are making modest progress and showing a growing willingness to increase spending on technology. 

 

However, a clinical approach, rather than a patient- or family-centred approach, is still being applied, so there is still much to be done to meet the needs of individuals and the marked socio-demographic differences in our societies. 

Yet the opportunities for nonprofit civic organizations to contribute to this advancement have never been better. We must therefore assert our role in this agenda of socio-scientific transformation, provided that we can bring solid expertise in the field of digital health literacy, legal knowledge and compliance, and a deep understanding of health care systems.  

Our aim is to defend the right to better health and well-being as a global priority for all citizens and in the interest of our future productive economies.

 

Data and research

We all want better health care, with better and cheaper treatments and equal access for all.  But to get there, every citizen must understand the importance of their health data being available for research in sufficient quantity and quality, provided that they are offered in trusted environments that comply with current regulations on data management. 

 

 

The use of data through digital resources answers many questions that arise about the effectiveness of the current health system:  

• Is the system capable of managing our health on a regular basis, even with a complex disease?
• Does current data monitoring allow us to deal directly with health professionals who can help us better manage our disease?
• We manage our health with multiple medications, does this really make us feel better? 
• Do we have control over our health conditions? (e.g. information about our genetic condition, the characteristics of our chronicity)
•  Do we know if our diagnosis is timely and truly clear to us?
•  Is our lifestyle changing? And if so, are we adapting? 

We will not be able to make progress on these issues without employing better technology managed by professionals trained to use it. We need both – technology and professionals – to achieve healthier habits and lifestyles, guided by the empathy of an expert professional, not just an AI chatbot. People who understand our difficulties and connect with us when we need it. 

The elderly, young people and children are communities currently neglected in health systems. But achieving more personalized care models will not be possible without the quantitative and qualitative increase in data managed in safe, ethical and, therefore, reliable environments. 

In this sense, we have great hope in the opportunity that the EHDS (European Health Data Space) -which will bring together data from a wide variety of compliant systems- when launched.

At Lovexair, that is where we are putting the focus of our work in digital health. Our HappyAir ecosystem is helping us to address these challenges by connecting partners from the public, private and third sectors who aspire to make a significant change in equitable health through networks based on values, in which we firmly believe.