Background
HIV – one of the world’s deadliest infectious disease killers – needs no introduction. It has killed almost 10 million people over the last 10 years.
What makes these facts even more worrisome is that there are effective treatments available and there is no reason anyone should die from HIV. Sadly, in emerging economies where HIV can have a prevalence rate in the range 3 to 20% of the population, up to 30% of adults and 40% of children who are HIV positive do not take their medications. There are 38.4 million people living with HIV, 70% in Africa. Kenya has one of the world’s largest populations of people living with HIV/AIDs and approximately 30% are not taking treatment.
This study brings together key healthcare partners, resources, and technology to explore the impact of blockchain and crypto rewards in addressing the major challenge in improving survival and treatment rates of people living with HIV and AIDS
KAKAMEGA, Kenya, Sept. 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Immunify.Life, a transformative blockchain-based healthcare ecosystem, in partnership with Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (MMUST) – the premier science, technology, and innovation university in Kenya – has completed groundwork for a large-scale HIV/AIDS treatment outcomes study that is now formally launched. As part of the study, the Immunify.Life data capture and processing platform will be used to help empower patients, communities, and entire countries using token rewards that can improve medical regimen adherence rates in previously lapsed HIV/AIDS patients.
The HIV/AIDS treatment outcomes study is an elegant application of the Immunify.Life technology, and the results from the study will contribute to the future Strategic Direction on HIV treatment in Kenya
According to Department of Health coordinators in Kakamega County, there were more than 1,000 patients with high viral loads in July, which may be indicative of treatment failure. This means that this study is not only necessary, but also timely.
Immunify.Life CEO Guy Newing commented on the study by saying: “The technology that we are using at Immunify.Life is designed to address the challenges of HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis, and vaccination programmes. Blockchain technology is the cutting edge new frontier technology that will revolutionize healthcare in Africa.”
Dr. Mutay, the Head of the Medical School at MMUST, said: “Our Vice Chancellor is keen on strengthening research capacity and has championed the setting up of research teams to write proposals in different areas. This project will therefore receive the required administrative support. We expect that this project can be used to touch lives and solve the problems of the community.”
Project Coordinator of the Immunify.Life MMUST Dr. Tecla Jerotich Sum said: “Our greatness is determined by our service and EVERY LIFE counts. We are committed to improving the health outcomes and wellness of all people affected and infected with HIV and AIDS. We are using science, innovation, technology, and compassion to improve quality of care and avoid loss in the cascade of care.”
Dr. Sum continued to describe the benefits of the system by saying “The project has critical components such as HIV and AIDS screening, laboratory tests, treatment, follow up care, peer group support, tracking of treatment outcomes, tracking of retention on treatment, and enhanced paperless data. I am excited about this project because its success will spread to the whole country and later to the whole continent.”
Immunify.Life is a complete and fully-sustainable platform that can be used to incentivize patients, run health campaigns, and seamlessly integrate peripheral health-related data and data management tools for providers, patients, families, and more. By collaborating with relevant government health ministries and subsidiary entities, NGOs, partner health organizations, for-profit partners, donors, and more, Immunify.Life is in the business of unlocking the latent power and benefits of innovative technology in the healthcare space.
Blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies are often perceived as speculative, but inherent privacy, security, value-added incentives, seamless collaboration, and cross-platform integration that is possible using blockchain and cryptocurrencies would not be possible in any other way. As such, these are innovations that have unique use cases that Immunify.Life and its partners are exploring for the well-being and benefit of all.
About Immunify.Life
Immunify.Life is a transformative and self-sustaining healthcare ecosystem secured by blockchain. Its mission is to use blockchain technology to address the world biggest health issues by strengthening global health systems via an incentivized behavior change system and data capture tool. It provides an all-in-one platform and ecosystem to capture full, transparent health records of secured patient medical information and offers the patient direct access to personal data via a unique health identification tag with the ability to consolidate this data to enable Big Data for Health with a vision to empower all patients and emerging economies with the tools to own and manage their health future and data to collaboratively engage in the global health landscape.
About Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (MMUST)
Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (MMUST) is the premier science, technology, and innovation university in Kenya. It has approximately 17,000 students across its branches, with the main campus located in Kakamega Town. The university has a focus on international collaboration and has previously executed agreements with Save the Children Fund, a world-leading NGO with 25,000 dedicated staff across 117 countries.
explainer video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
