New technologies can revolutionise the healthcare system, providing a better delivery of services and developing effective health policy. We are now able to access and share personal health data, thus supporting the development of patient-centred health services and the involvement of patients in many aspects of their own care. This was the overarching theme of the eHealth Week, that we attended in May 10.
Held in Malta in May 10th – 12th, the 2017 eHealth week gathered more than 1,000 stakeholders from four continents. EFA Project Manager Giuseppe de Carlo was of the few patient advocates attending the event, where he participated representing the myAirCoach consortium, and EU funded project that has developed an asthma app for easy and connected self-management.
MyAirCoach Panel, 2017 eHealth week, Malta
myAirCoach was hosted at the EU project Pavilion, and it was a great opportunity for presenting last updates, especially on the sensing prototypes and the mobile app. Our Giuseppe presented the project on May 11th at the speakers corner and engaged in many face-to-face meeting to exploit opportunities for future collaborations with companies and other projects.
Giuseppe de Carlo, EFA Project Manager
eHealth is an area under development but its evolution is moving too fast. Many speakers and attendees confirmed the potential of big data to drive healthcare, but they were calling for a Big Data framework for European healthcare. This urgency for a regulation was also echoed by Zsuzsanna Jakab, from WHO Europe, who underlined that only six EU countries have a national strategy to regulate the use of big data in healthcare.
The eHealth week was also an opportunity to sharing experiences and best practices from all over Europe: for instance, Sweden, Estonia, Croatia, Portugal and Finland will start sharing electronic prescriptions in the first quarter of 2018; the government of Malta has created myHealth portal, one of the most advanced patient portals in Europe, which will includes a detailed electronic and medication summary and will give the opportunity to identify the closest medical institutions through GPS technology.