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Rural communities may benefit from healthtech disrupting healthcare models across Latin America.
FREMONT, CA: For decades, healthcare in Latin America has been grossly inadequate. Long waiting lists, a shortage of medical experts, ongoing underfunding, and sharp disparities between public and private healthcare facilities are just a few of the region's recurring problems. The regulation of the privatization of public healthcare has been inadequate. Even in healthcare systems regarded as examples for the region, such as those of Chile and Uruguay, inequities persist.
A FUTURE FOR HEALTH TECHNOLOGY?
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Covid illuminated how healthtech might overcome the barriers of location and transit logistics to reach regions that have long been excluded from healthcare networks. While the pandemic served as a significant stimulus, healthtech enjoyed fast expansion even before. From 2014 to 2019, the number of healthtech startups in Brazil increased more than twofold, from 160 to 389. Additionally, healthcare-adjacent businesses, such as gyms, shifted towards healthcare services. During the height of the pandemic, Brazil's gym subscription unicorn, Gympass, efficiently shifted to include remote nutrition and mental health services for its users.
Brazil is at the forefront of the regional healthtech revolution. Between 2014 and 2020, Brazilian health techs raised over $400 million in investment rounds, according to statistics compiled by Distrito.
Healthtech has transformed obstacles into possibilities, and geography has aided in spurring innovation. Many residents in the region lack access to conventional healthcare clinics, let alone those that provide specialized medical treatment, such as cancer care. Typically, these facilities are hundreds of kilometers away from individuals needing their services. In Mexico, the mental health startup Yana gained from enabling online consultations; therapies that are not physically intrusive are well-suited to this type of business model shift.
TELEMEDICINE
Post-pandemic, healthcare experts anticipate that telemedicine will increasingly supplement in-person consultations; the challenge is to ensure that impoverished and remote populations with inadequate digital infrastructure knowledge or access are not left behind.
During the Covid crisis, telemedicine became a significant tool for healthcare providers, revolutionizing how medical care is delivered—and may be supplied. In the wake of the pandemic, telemedicine has gained popularity locally. Since the onset of the pandemic, there have been 9 million telemedicine appointments in Colombia alone, a 7,000 percent increase from the previous year. Due to the region's shared language, cross-border teleconsultation is also feasible.
Telemedicine must overcome hurdles before becoming mainstream. The initial factor is infrastructure. Although communication networks are robust in several Latin American nations, such as Chile, Costa Rica, and Uruguay, less than fifty percent of Latin America will have fixed broadband connectivity by 2021. Within each nation, the access and digital literacy gap between the poorest sectors of the population residing primarily in rural regions (who, arguably, benefit the most from telemedicine programs) and rich city inhabitants are pronounced.
In rural places, inadequate transportation might impede physical medical appointments, which is problematic because telemedicine frequently requires a physical examination, rehabilitation therapy, or surgery. In collaboration with drone drug delivery systems, telemedicine will undoubtedly contribute to early disease detection and chronic patient management.
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