TECHNOLOGY CAN ACCELERATE EQUAL ACCESS TO WOMEN’S HEALTH CARE
28 mayo, 2020
Blog
On World Health Day, Pro Mujer joined forces with Equals Global Partnership members, including GSMA and ITU to host a Twitter Chat. As organizations working to advance gender equality and to provide tools for women and girls to thrive worldwide, we hosted this twitter chat to highlight the positive impact technology can have on the most marginalized communities.
Across underserved areas around the world, a lack of clinics and hospitals, and infrastructure such as roads or bridges make it difficult for women to access health care. The high costs of care in many countries, to cover expenses like medicine, co-payments or health insurance, can discourage women from prioritizing their health. The current crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, has been exposing and exacerbating these systemic inequalities. In this context, we saw the opportunity to use this chat as a way to come together to say loudly and clearly: Equal access to technology is critical to closing gender gaps and improving the health of women and girls.
Participants in the twitter chat answered four main questions and shared resources and stories to make the case. As members of the EQUALS Global Partnership, it is our duty to continue supporting and investing in programs that close the gender gap in technology and consequently impact the lives of women and girls in a myriad of ways, health included.
TWITTER CHAT QUESTIONS:
- Please introduce yourself (name, position, organization, country)
- How can technology impact access to healthcare systems?
- What does the health care technology landscape look like in Latin America?
- What’s the next thing we can expect from technology to improving healthcare access?
- Which organization are doing a great job integrating technology and health care to provicde a high-quality service?
Technology is already helping us improve health care systems around the world by reducing costs, optimizing delivery of basic health care so organizations can reach more people, and offering customized care for women.
A2. Mobile technology can increase access to healthcare for women by connecting home-based female doctors with communities where access to quality healthcare is limited, check out this new case study of a digital health start-up in Pakistan https://t.co/P3TfumNzFm @sam_ajadi
— Mariana Lopez (@lopezmarianar) April 7, 2020
A2 One more, @dialoglk Yeheli is Sri Lanka’s first-ever personalised and interactive web-based service dedicated to women’s health and wellbeing. This app allows users to ask questions anonymously and to receive bespoke answers from experts https://t.co/gM8wxQTbAu
— Mariana Lopez (@lopezmarianar) April 7, 2020
A2. #DidYouKnow that 26% of women using internet on their mobile in emerging markets use it to access information about health at least once a month? It’s up to 48% in developed markets #EQUALSinHealthTech #WorldHealthDay ??
— Claire Scharwatt (@ClaireScharwatt) April 7, 2020
Connectivity has become one of the most pressing challenges to providing health care for women, especially in underserved communities. In Latin America, only 67% of the population has access to the internet. For women who have connectivity, there still remains a lack of mobile apps and platforms designed to provide gender-sensitive care and counseling.
A3.1 Technology in health care has gradually improved in Latin America. However, there is still a lack of hybrid models that include digital platforms and in person service to deliver high quality care. #WorldHealthDay #EqualsInHealthTech
— Fer DiazdelaVega (@ferdiazdelavega) April 7, 2020
A3 Many #youth in Latin America have access to tech. In #Honduras we’re addressing #GBV through a #WhatsApp campaign for boys and girls. Later this year we’ll even have a cognitive based therapy #chatbot to counsel and direct youth to in person services. #equalsinhealthtech
— YTH (@YTHorg) April 7, 2020
A3.2 An interesting number of healthcare innovators in Mexico are using technology to increase reach to patients in a more efficient manner via telemedicine and enhance access to provider information. #WorldHealthDay #EqualsInHealthTech
— Jessica Olivan (@JESSICAOLIVAN) April 7, 2020
As technology continues to advance in every aspect so are health care systems. Telemedicine is a clear example of how we are quickly adapting to women’s needs. Telemedicine services are a reflection of where we are headed when it comes to health care.
A4: We can look at the start-up scene to get a glimpse into the future 😉 #EqualsInHealthTech
— Claire Scharwatt (@ClaireScharwatt) April 7, 2020
A4 We’re going to see more predictive technology to support decision making and #AI. Our sector can learn a lot from #SiliconValley and we should aim to be on track with private sector #innovations, and not play catch up, to best support women and girls. #equalsinhealthtech
— YTH (@YTHorg) April 7, 2020
A4 SyMetric Systems works on a specialized area of solutions for drug discovery by pharmaceutical organizations. Their platforms can be used in clinical research and trials across many medical and health sectors. https://t.co/H0aSrSk7qd #EqualsInHealthTech #WorldHealthDay pic.twitter.com/7KCgPjtNb6
— EQUALS (@equals) April 7, 2020
A4.1 In today’s reality, with the sanitary crisis as it is, technology’s role is and will be key in providing healthcare access to people. #WorldHealthDay #EqualsInHealthTech
— Fer DiazdelaVega (@ferdiazdelavega) April 7, 2020
We want to thank all participants who joined us from around the world. We had people joining us from Niger, Mexico, Canada, and the EE.UU. We are excited to continue promoting these conversations that allow all of us to share resources, knowledge and most importantly to help us collaborate. Increased partnerships in the public-private sectors will be key to increasing our impact as we work collectively for women and girls. Follow the hashtags #EqualsInHealthtech and #WorldHealthDay to see full twitter chat.