This is how technology affects the health of Colombia’s rural population – health

Universal Health Coverage (UHC) means that everyone can access a full range of essential and quality health services, when and where they need them, without suffering financial hardship. These services range from health promotion to prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and palliative care. during his lifetime.

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This is determined by the World Health Organization, an organization within its general program of work Seeks to get 1 billion more people to benefit from CSU by 2025, Overcoming one of the main challenges to this coverage: inequality, one of which exists between urban and rural populations.

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In Colombia, this difference is evident in findings such as Dane’s Quality of Life Survey, which showed as of June 2022 that one in five patients in the country could not access health services, due to common difficulties and historical data such as appointment timing, quality of service, and geographic location. The center of care and the number of procedures to perform any medical operation.

In the face of these challenges, initiatives such as HealthTech that seek to revolutionize the world’s health systems through automation, artificial intelligence and data analytics, among other innovative resources, are emerging for Healthcare organizations gain efficiency and productivity in their proceduresAnd that this is reflected in increasing access to services for all people.

A sample of such startups is the Colombian company Coco Digital, which operates in four countries, and its technology solutions have affected different rural population groups in Colombia, from the peasant families of San Vicente del Caguan to the indigenous Embira Catyo community of Mutata, municipality of Uraba. . antioqueno

According to Robert Parada, CEO of the company, “Today, the majority of lives lost are those of people far from health centers, because they have no control or because prevention programs and models of care were scarce and sporadic. A city patient easily accesses the clinic from his cell phone or a computer, But those who live in rural areas cannot do so because state institutions do not have the infrastructure or funds to invest in technology. The government gives them resources, but it is not enough.

The rural areas of Carepa, Yolombó, Santa Fe de Antioquia, Uramita, and Guadalupe are some of the corners Coco has reached, but among the experiences that Parada stands out the most are San Vicente del Caguan and the indigenous reserves of Mota.

In the first municipality, residents up to 70 kilometers away were able to access their health services. “The internet repeater antennas installed by the mayor’s office allow people to request their appointments virtually, avoiding those long and stressful commutes,” says the businessman.

In the case of Mutata, he highlights the benefits received by the Embera Katiu indigenous people, who previously had to get down from their shelters and walk for three hours or go to the hospital the day before and dawn outside to ask for early shifts of service. “The hospital management installed our software, gave the community a modem and gave them a cell phone so they could request appointments from their community centre. or receive virtual medical attention,” he adds.

According to Coco Digital studies, the solutions it offers, among them requesting, modifying or canceling appointments; telemedicine; Chatbots and self-management procedures facilitated the care of 40% more people in affected clinics thanks to the use of proven capacity.

In this sense, Robert explains that when a health institution, for example, that receives 10,000 patients per month begins to operate with this technology, it begins to treat 14,000, “not because it hires more doctors or expands its offices, but because we make their operations more efficient.” , he says.

This health technology’s commitment to a better health system has led to its alliance with Cohan, Antioquia Hospital Cooperative, a division that, according to health watchdog data, as of September 2022, had 554 complaints filed per day due to health failures. services.

This consortium seeks to connect the real-time availability of more than 100 hospitals and enable a new virtual emergency model. This means that if a patient in a village needs prompt attention, he reaches out to Coco and sees the doctor available not only in his local hospital, but all over Antioquia so he can be considered immediately.

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Today, the challenge is to forge a coalition with local and national governments to make this next step a reality. We will prove that this new generation of young people in Colombia can change the trajectory of Latin America through technological initiatives that bridge social gaps, honor the population, and raise national talent as an example to the world. This is our challenge, we are achieving it and we are going to repeat it,” concludes Parada.

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