Africa Telehealth Project / Nairobi Regional Conference
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One of those FYI things,
Bob Pyke Jr
mailto:repyke@akron.infi.net
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Please visit: http://www.projectscope.org/atp
for background on the upcoming Africa Telehealth Project's Nairobi Con-
ference to be held February 19-21, 1999. I do believe that many of the
subscribers to this listserv will find the content relevant. As a bit
of background, following is a brief description of the Africa Tele-
health Project. I look forward to your individual comments, possible
participation and/or attendance at this special event. All my contact
information appears below also.
"The Africa TeleHealth Project" will provide a staged introduction of
telehealth programs to the African market focused on geographic cover-
age and service issues. Initially, the service will be introduced in
cooperation with a variety of international development agencies, the
long-term goal of which is to create a commercially viable service tar-
geted to the needs of the following three sectors within the African
Continent:
- Medical/Health Care Management Professionals,
- Educational Services (distance learning, etc.),
- Community Health Networks/Programs (a general access service to in-
crease awareness and prevention among the population at large).
The longer term objective of this project is to build on the basic
telehealth network developed in the first 12 months thus providing
benefits to both participating organisations and African host countries
in the following areas:
- General Categories
- Videoconferencing, Teleconferencing and Computer-based Networks
- Access to Digitised Medical Reference Libraries
- Common Information, Communication and Networking Environment for
Healthcare Professionals
- Secure Network for Remote Image and Records Transmission (x-rays, ul-
trasounds, medical records, diagnostic results, etc)
- Educational Services for Distance Learning, Training, etc.
- Remote Order Entry and Logistics Management System for Pharmaceuti-
cals and Related Medical Supplies
- Community Health Information Network.
Medical, educational, healthcare management, social and commercial
benefits will arise from the long-term implementation of this project
as follow:-
Medical Benefits:
The clinical/health care focus of this project is clear. Much of the
work will be in support of medical practitioners, their patients, and
the health care infrastructure in the region. Recent trials in Manitoba
have demonstrated the benefits in both time and cost of employing diag-
nostic methods which have included telehealth to electronically trans-
mit radiology and ultrasound images between the labs, consultants and
local practitioner.
Educational Benefits:
The program will allow the various programs of educational facilities
to be extended to the local community through distance learning. Nurs-
ing, general medical programs and training can be provided locally al-
lowing these professionals to remain in the communities where they
practice. Through access to on-line medical libraries, required infor-
mation will become more available to both professional and general in-
terest audiences. The ability to conduct electronic searches through
the various medical and related libraries available as a result of this
project will also greatly enhance access to information available to
medical professionals as well as timeliness of that information and its
utility for these professionals.
Health Care Management Benefits:
The ability to better reach underserved areas is one of the immediate
benefits of introduction of a telehealth program.
Social Benefits:
Experiments have proven the ability to deliver cost savings through
teleconsultations while a study conducted by the FootHills General hos-
pital in Calgary, determined that a telehealth program could have re-
placed over 25% of their current transport requirements with trauma, C-
spine fractures and drug overdoses being areas most readily served
through telehealth practices rather than transport to FootHills Gen-
eral. The recruiting, training and retention of local medical practi-
tioners will also improve which will assist in maintaining the fabric
of the local communities. Families also stand to be benefit from tele-
health. Due to the variety and range of issues faced in the average
family practice, the General Practitioners have difficulty assessing
and treating all issues. Telehealth offers an opportunity to keep the
family together within their community during the course of the medical
care required.
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with the words "subscribe africatelehealth-scope" in the message area.
Do not include the quotes and leave the subject line blank. If you have
any difficulty subscribing, e-mail Carolyn Manjourides directly at:
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Carolyn Manjourides
President, Project SCOPE Incorporated
232 W. Canton Street, Suite 100
Boston, MA 02116, USA
mailto:cmanjourides@projectscope.org
http://www.projectscope.org
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