3 ms·

I've been hearing that technology is going to transform healthcare in the developing world for the past two decades. While all of those things you mention help,

I've been hearing that technology is going to transform healthcare in the developing world for the past two decades. While all of those things you mention help, they aren't the big problems - logistics, finances, corruption, stigma around being diagnosed with diseases, low density of clinics, low education. These technologies will only help if you have trained healthcare workers, equipped with the medicine they need and a population that is willing and able to come into clinics.

deleted 7y ago
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nopinsight 7y ago
AI-assisted telemedicine along with (non-doctor) healthcare workers who regularly visit homes can help mitigate some of the problems you describe. Healthcare workers can be almost an order of magnitude cheaper than doctors and take much less time to train. In a middle-income country I know very well, there is no lack of such workers, but doctor shortage, esp specialists, is acute in many rural areas.
- 131012 7y ago
  The main problem with healthcare access is money. Unless you create the socialist-bot-of-ai-love, tech won't fix this issue.
  - nopinsight 7y ago
    AI and telemedicine can help lower costs by improving the efficiency of some logistics and the most expensive kinds of expertise.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- solidasparagus 7y ago
  > "healthcare workers who regularly visit homes" This is unrealistic in the developing countries (low income) I am familiar with. The density of clinics is so low that clinics need to cover vast geographic areas. Clinical workers are easier to train, but still in extremely short supply in most rural areas of the developing nations I know well.
  - nopinsight 7y ago
    Different solutions are certainly needed in different countries. We can comment on governance, finances, etc but there are whole books written about them. I focused on some potential solutions I know a bit about. Would telemedicine plus AI-enabled UI, such as voice interface, help at all? For example, it could remind patients of chronic diseases to take medicine regularly or take better care of their diet. Obviously, technologies alone would not solve such a major problem, but they are enablers and accelerators. Technologies are some of the more easily scalable and lower-cost solutions available. I have written more about that in other comments as well as provided links to some very recent advances in NLP. I would also enjoy hearing some of your proposed solutions that are practical, plausible, and scalable. I think we are all ears for constructive comments. :)

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

nopinsight 7y ago

AI-assisted telemedicine along with (non-doctor) healthcare workers who regularly visit homes can help mitigate some of the problems you describe. Healthcare workers can be almost an order of magnitude cheaper than doctors and take much less time to train. In a middle-income country I know very well, there is no lack of such workers, but doctor shortage, esp specialists, is acute in many rural areas.

131012 7y ago
The main problem with healthcare access is money. Unless you create the socialist-bot-of-ai-love, tech won't fix this issue.
- nopinsight 7y ago
  AI and telemedicine can help lower costs by improving the efficiency of some logistics and the most expensive kinds of expertise.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
solidasparagus 7y ago
> "healthcare workers who regularly visit homes" This is unrealistic in the developing countries (low income) I am familiar with. The density of clinics is so low that clinics need to cover vast geographic areas. Clinical workers are easier to train, but still in extremely short supply in most rural areas of the developing nations I know well.
- nopinsight 7y ago
  Different solutions are certainly needed in different countries. We can comment on governance, finances, etc but there are whole books written about them. I focused on some potential solutions I know a bit about. Would telemedicine plus AI-enabled UI, such as voice interface, help at all? For example, it could remind patients of chronic diseases to take medicine regularly or take better care of their diet. Obviously, technologies alone would not solve such a major problem, but they are enablers and accelerators. Technologies are some of the more easily scalable and lower-cost solutions available. I have written more about that in other comments as well as provided links to some very recent advances in NLP. I would also enjoy hearing some of your proposed solutions that are practical, plausible, and scalable. I think we are all ears for constructive comments. :)