The United Nations reports that a child born in the developing world is 33 times more likely to die by age five than a child born in the U.S. or in Germany. Tragically, the leading causes of death are entirely preventable. Given the shortage of healthcare providers worldwide and the explosive proliferation of mobile phones, devices, and apps, mobile health technology offers the tremendous opportunity to help improve health in developing countries. How can we best leverage mobile health technology to help save lives and empower communities? Is there a role for human rights advocacy in the campaign to increase access to quality care? And, what lessons can the West learn from the developing world to solve the problems of access, affordability, and even innovation?
On Wednesday, October 22, 2014, experts will convene at the German Center for Research and Innovation in New York to address these and other pertinent questions about the use of technology to solve the global healthcare crisis. Kerry Kennedy, President of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights and bestselling author of Being Catholic Now and Speak Truth to Power, will begin her presentation by focusing on healthcare as an inalienable right, citing Article 25: Right to an Adequate Living Standard from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. She will recount her personal experiences watching people abroad interact with mobile health technology and describe the impact that it has had on their communities. She will then elaborate on the partnership that was created with Donato Tramuto, Health eVillages (HeV), and the RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights to help clinicians around the world deliver better healthcare to some of the poorest, most underserved regions of the world, including parts of East Africa, China, and Haiti. Ms. Kennedy started working in human rights in 1981 when she investigated abuses committed by U.S. immigration officials against Salvadoran refugees. Since then, her life has been devoted to the pursuit of justice and to the promotion and protection of basic rights. She established the RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights in 1988 and has led over 50 human rights delegations across the globe. Ms. Kennedy founded RFK Speak Truth to Power, a global human rights education initiative that is taught to millions of students worldwide. In 2010, she founded RFK Compass, which convenes financial leaders to consider the impact of human rights violations, environmental degradation, and corruption on investment outcomes. Ms. Kennedy is Chair of the Amnesty International USA Leadership Council and serves on the boards of directors of Human Rights First, Inter Press Service, and the United States Institute for Peace.
Donato J. Tramuto, Founder, CEO, and Chairman of Physicians Interactive, will also speak. Mr. Tramuto has nearly 35 years of healthcare experience in both the product and service segments. He also serves on many boards, including as Chairman of the HealthWays (HWAYS: NASDAQ) Board of Directors. In 2011, following the devastating effects from the earthquake in Haiti, he founded Health eVillages, a program in partnership with the RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights. This program is funded through Physicians Interactive, which provides state-of-the-art mobile health technology to medical professionals in the most challenging clinical environments around the world. In his presentation, Mr. Tramuto will discuss how the mission of HeV is fulfilled through medical content and tools on devices, medical education and training, and patient education. In 2005, 2009, and 2012, Mr. Tramuto was selected by PharmaVoice as one of the Top 100 Most Inspirational Healthcare Leaders in the Life Sciences Industry. He was also recently selected as one of four distinguished recipients of the 2014 Ripple of Hope Award from the RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights alongside former Secretary of State and First Lady Hillary Clinton, Academy Award winner Robert DeNiro, and Grammy Award winner Tony Bennett.
Bernd Altpeter, Founder and CEO of the German Institute for Telemedicine and Health Promotion (DITG), will add a different perspective to the discussion. Since 2006, he has been operating as a consultant, business angel, and entrepreneur in the e-health industry. In March 2013, he founded DITG, which has evolved into one of the leading e-health companies in Germany, offering lifestyle intervention programs for chronic diseases, such as Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, in addition to servicing international companies in various sectors like the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries. Today, numerous disease patterns are nourished by contemporary lifestyles. Individual lifestyle changes will hence play a key role in relieving the pressure on future healthcare systems. Additional strains on the healthcare system include an increase in healthcare costs associated with more people with chronic diseases living longer as well as more expensive drugs. The cost of diabetes mellitus to the German public health system, for example, is 42 billion euros per year plus an additional 19 billion euros in indirect costs like employee sick days. Mr. Altpeter will explain how lifestyle and data tracking is becoming more relevant in response to these mounting costs. A universe of new technological devices that can increase compliance and lifestyle modification is emerging. Mr. Altpeter will remind audience members, however, that devices alone do not create full therapeutical success – successsful patient management also requires coaching and patient-oriented solutions. He will then conclude his presentation by showcasing successful case studies from diabetes patients in Germany.
Dr. Wolfgang Renz, President of International Business at Physicians Interactive, will moderate the discussion. He will give a brief overview of how healthcare is changing in both the developed world and in emerging markets. Currently, over one billion people go to the grave never having seen a physician or healthcare worker. Just producing more healthcare personnel is not enough to solve this problem. Dr. Renz will lead a discussion on how mobile health technology and education can be combined to improve health outcomes. He will explain how technologies for patients with chronic disease in the modern world can be scaled for use in developing countries. He will also stress that equal healthcare challenges exist in parts of the “first world,” such as in areas of the South like Louisiana or Georgia. The shortage of general practitioners is also an issue in parts of the U.S., Canada, and Germany. Dr. Renz will explain how mobile health technology can help “unclog” the system, such as by helping reduce wait times at emergency rooms. He will also stress the need for collaborative IQ, i.e. the integration, not just innovation of new technologies. Currently, over 20,000 medical apps are on the market, but only roughly 5% of them are being used. Dr. Renz will then close the panel discussion with a call to action to help HeV reach more people to improve healthcare globally. Dr. Renz formerly served as Corporate Vice President of Business Model & HealthCare Innovation at Boehringer Ingelheim, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies. For over a decade, he has been involved in developing medicines and technology to help people lead healthier, more productive lives. While at Boehringer Ingelheim, he led a team of specialists to find, test, and develop the disruptive technologies that will shape the way healthcare will be delivered in the future.
This panel discussion will take place on Wednesday, October 22, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., at the German Center for Research and Innovation (871 United Nations Plaza, First Avenue, btw. 48th & 49th Streets).
