Health Equity in a Digital World

An article by Maeve Rafferty , Business Development Director for LMICs at Abi

Imagine you could reach into your pocket, pull out WhatsApp - and connect with any type of doctor within 30 seconds. Healthcare access can be this easy.?

What is Health Equity?

Health equity means that everyone, everywhere has a fair and just opportunity to attain their optimal health. But not everyone has this opportunity. In fact, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), close to half the world does not have adequate access to healthcare. People living in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where significant structural barriers to healthcare access exist, are particularly at risk. Barriers in LMICs include a shortage of healthcare professionals (especially specialists), vast geographic areas with uneven resource distribution, and a large portion of the population engaged in informal employment. Informal employment leads to income instability and insecurity while planning for big expenditures, such as healthcare.

Digital Health with Equity in Mind

As the reach of digital health tools expands, it is crucial to design them with health equity in mind. The best way to achieve this is by focusing on the end user's needs. For patients, digital health tools need to be accessible regardless of the language they speak, the place they live in, or how much money they have. Healthcare professionals need ease of use, coupled with a user journey that makes efficient and effective use of their time. In countries with significant structural barriers to healthcare access, we can design with the user in mind through telehealth! Telehealth can significantly improve health outcomes by providing timely medical advice. It can also reduce self-diagnosis risks and facilitate early detection and intervention.

User Journeys Matter

Traditional telehealth models have required users to go through complex sign-up processes and learn to interact with new interfaces. They have had poor provider availability due to outdated booking systems, which result in inefficient use of everyone’s time. They are often call-centre based models that result in only marginally cheaper costs than face-to-face facilities.?

At Abi, we are revolutionising access to on-demand healthcare for people - regardless of where they live, the language they speak, or the income they earn. By being a user interface agnostic platform, we meet users where they are. Whether it’s on WhatsApp or native applications, Abi is available. We use powerful AI algorithms to understand users' needs and match them with our distributed network of appropriate healthcare professionals. Our on-demand service has a match time between user and healthcare professional of 30 seconds, and our service spans across 10 million lives - in 40 different countries.?

A Human Approach Empowered by AI

Not only do we drastically improve match times, we also use AI to empower healthcare professionals by providing efficient and effective responses to users' needs and making the most of their time and limited resources. Our in-house AI lab puts quality assurance at the centre of our platform by building algorithms that work in tandem with humans to flag and resolve quality care issues that arise in real time.

We believe that a human first approach is crucial to care. With this in mind, we use AI to ensure that everyone, everywhere has the ability to access that healthcare professional! We know that telehealth has the ability to revolutionise access to healthcare and improve health equity globally.?

Want to learn more? Email us here: [email protected]