New Research Investigates the Function of Blockchain-Based mostly Knowledge Seize & Crypto Incentives in Bettering Affected person Outcomes
MMUST, the premier know-how and innovation college in Kenya, and Immunify.Life, a transformative and self-sustaining healthcare ecosystem secured by blockchain, has entered right into a partnership that may leverage MMUST’s tutorial and analysis prowess and the superior tech infrastructure of Immunify.Life to handle the problem of poor affected person information assortment, affected person relapses, and misaligned incentives with a particular concentrate on HIV-positive sufferers in Kenya.
Within the progressive new research, Masinde Muliro College of Science and Know-how (MMUST) and Immunify.Life will use blockchain know-how to revamp well being information seize, transmission, and sharing processes in addition to remedy incentives to enhance the well being outcomes of HIV-positive sufferers in Kenya.
This will likely be a 5-year collaborative effort, with the main aim being to enhance affected person outcomes and strengthen the efficiency of the Kenyan healthcare system. By fastidiously designing scientific research in numerous areas throughout Kenya and addressing key healthcare challenges confronted by a number of the nation’s most susceptible populations, MMUST and Immunify.Life hopes to precisely determine the danger elements, causes, and obstacles confronted by HIV sufferers in contracting HIV, receiving remedy, and adhering to their care regimens.
One of many key options of the primary research – which can start in August – will likely be the usage of Immunify.Life’s token reward system in bettering remedy adherence in HIV/AIDS sufferers. All the related approvals (particularly from the Institutional Ethics Committee and the Nationwide Fee for Science, Know-how & Innovation) have been granted to MMUST for utilizing Immunify.Life’s know-how platform for this research.
Whereas Kenya has achieved plenty of UNAID’s HIV 2020 objectives, the nation nonetheless has an extended method to go, notably within the areas of efficient and sustained ART (antiretroviral remedy – the first remedy for HIV/AIDS). About 70% of adults dwelling with HIV in Kenya entry remedy, however remedy protection for youngsters underneath the age of 15 is decrease at about 60%. In Kakamega County the place the MMUST and Immunify.Life research will likely be performed, there are excessive prevalence, an infection, and relapse charges for males, ladies, and youngsters, making it the proper location for a complete, data-intensive research of HIV/AIDS and the socio-economic, coverage, and associated challenges that forestall individuals from receiving the remedies obtainable to them.
Research Goals
The first goal of the primary research is to research the effectiveness of incentives and paperless monitoring methods on HIV remedy outcomes within the low socio-economic setting of Kakamega County. Different goals of the research embrace:
- Testing the effectiveness of crypto-based token rewards on HIV/AIDS remedy adherence amongst sufferers with suspected remedy failure in Kakamega County;
- Evaluating the influence of token rewards methods on healthcare suppliers;
- Figuring out the socioeconomic elements that hinder the retention of HIV sufferers with suspected remedy failures;
- Creating and testing an built-in, cloud-based system for bettering remedy adherence of HIV/AIDS sufferers with suspected remedy failures.
The HIV remedy outcomes research is the proper alternative for MMUST, Immunify.Life, and different official companions and organizations equivalent to Kenyan healthcare coverage leaders and strategists to conduct a real-world check of the effectiveness of crypto-based rewards and blockchain-based information seize and sharing on HIV remedy adherence charges. The applied sciences in play have the ability to vastly enhance remedy adherence and empower sufferers, communities, and full nations, and this research hopes to show past any doubt the advantages of an built-in, blockchain-based method to tackling a number of the world’s most essential well being challenges.
Masinde Muliro College of Science and Know-how is a technology-oriented, progressive college in Kenya. With about 17,000 college students enrolled, the college focuses on worldwide collaboration. It has a partnership with an NGO known as Save the Kids Fund which staffs 25,000 individuals in 117 nations.
The Immunify.Life staff says its mission is to “remodel the panorama of well being administration and information utilization” by strengthening world well being methods and entry to well being information “through an incentivized information seize instrument developed for the Immunify.Life illness register.” The group hopes to scale organically by increasing its affected person base via working with varied authorities entities, NGOs and donors.