Health forms an integral part of a human being. Accessing health remains the main concern and with the evolving technologies, digital health has become a major player in ensuring efficient delivery of health services.
Digital health is the use of information and communications technologies in medicine and other health professions to manage illnesses and health risks and to promote wellness.
Digital health technologies help patients self-manage their health conditions through regular monitoring and tracking of symptoms. More importantly, it is a tool for the early detection of significant changes to disease progression in a patient.
1. Enables achieving responsive and suitable healthcare; this is because patients have quicker access to health services hence improving the quality of care. It also reduces the burden on healthcare facilities by pioneering the idea of self-care for patients.
2. It enables prevention before treatment through self-managing conditions through regular monitoring and tracking of symptoms. Early detection helps in recognizing possible warning signs and taking action leads to early diagnosis and successful treatment. An important part of early detection is screening.
3. Re-models patient-doctor relationship. Engaging patients makes them co-designers of their care and treatment plans. The provision of quick and direct access to their health records results in them realizing personal health goals, hence work to achieve them.
4. Expanding the reach of healthcare professionals. It reduces healthcare professionals’ administrative burden which expands time for patient contact and monitoring.
5. The provision of affordable medical technologies in clinics reduces the financial burdens associated with disease management. This is because technology makes it easier to access medical care thus reducing the financial burden among patients.
6. It acts as a gateway to online communities where patients can encourage one another through sharing their experiences which makes them more hopeful to overcome various illnesses.
Patients wish to be an active part of the system by having access to health care conveniently, getting reliable information, and having records of their health reports. This results in fewer hospitalizations which makes home care easier and reduces inefficiencies which result in reduced cost and therefore increasing the quality of health.
Companies are at the forefront of incorporating technologies to improve the delivery of healthcare. One of the companies based in Kenya that has taken a major step in transforming health is Sahl Health. Sahl health is a digital health company innovating unique products that improve access to medical care, health information, and disease prevention.
Towards achieving its vision Sahl Health launched a new digital health e-commerce platform first in Kenya which aims to identify and minimize risk factors in addition to detecting illnesses at an early stage, with early detections, treatment of a host of diseases shall translate to a better chance of recovery.
Lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, obesity, hypertension, some cancers are on the rise and according to a report on Non-Communicable Diseases in 2016 by the Ministry of Health, “About 40% of deaths in Kenya are caused by non-communicable diseases which are as a result of lack of access to preventive healthcare.” In addition, close to 10 percent of Kenyans aged between 40 and 69 years are said to have a cardiovascular disease risk of 30 percent or above. These diseases are silent and don’t have early symptoms and require early detection which means offering treatment at a more favorable stage or taking action to prevent the disease.
Some of the direct benefits to those seeking preventive health as a priority are:
1. Comfort- Saves you from the distress of uncomfortable, painful symptoms and medical procedures.
2. Economic- It is more economical to invest in an annual preventive health check-up rather than going to the hospital in case of an emergency owing to the expensive medical care.
3. Investment-Take advantage of any preventive benefits that your insurance company offers.
4. Affordability – Weigh the relatively inexpensive cost of regular check-ups against the enormous expense of major care such as cancer treatment or long-term home healthcare. Major medical expenses often burn a major hole into one’s lifetime of savings.
The e-commerce platform seeks to enable individuals to purchase health checks, imaging and diagnostic tests (CT Scan, MRI, Mammogram), specialist or general doctor consultations at better rates to be redeemed at various partner health providers and you have an option to choose if a test can be done at the comfort of your home or office. Sahl Health members access this at a discounted rate, for membership kindly visit www.sahlhealth.com
Good health is wealth investing when you can.