WASHINGTON, CMC—The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has launched an ultra-portable telehealth kit for the management of complex cardiovascular disease, specialist prenatal ultrasounds, and the diagnosis of communicable diseases, such as tuberculosis, that can now be carried out even in the most remote parts of the Americas, including the Caribbean.
PAHO said the telehealth kits, which form part of the organization’s All in One Telehealth Package, provide countries with everything they need to set up telehealth services in rural and hard-to-reach communities throughout the region at just one-fifth of the cost of purchasing the equipment separately.
In the Americas, PAHO said that around 35 percent of the population lacks access to the health services they need, primarily due to organizational, financial, and geographic barriers.
For Dr. Sebastian Garcia Saiso, director of Evidence and Intelligence for Action in Health at PAHO, “the telehealth kits are a crucial step forward in democratizing comprehensive primary healthcare services and bringing them to the populations that need them the most – from the jungles of the Amazon rainforest to the peaks of the Andes, to the small island states of the Caribbean.”
Available through PAHO’s Regional Revolving Funds, a pooled procurement mechanism that enables countries of the Americas to access quality vaccines, essential medicines, supplies, and health technologies at affordable prices, PAHO said the kits contain everything needed to set up telehealth services in the field.
This includes equipment such as a blood pressure monitor, a glucometer, a thermometer, an electrocardiogram, a heart rate monitor, and an oxygen saturation machine, all of which can be connected online and utilized digitally.
PAHO said all the equipment in the kits is digital and interoperable. It comes in a durable, secure, and ultra-portable case, keeping it safe and operational even when transported through rugged terrain.
“While telehealth is not new, the COVID-19 pandemic encouraged us to explore new possibilities in terms of harnessing the power of telehealth to provide primary healthcare services in previously underserved areas of our Region,” said Marcelo D’Agostino, unit chief for Information Systems and Digital Health at PAHO.
“The kits can be operated by anyone in the field, from a local doctor to a community health care worker, and are designed to be connected digitally, facilitating the real-time interpretation of results by a specialist that may be located thousands of miles away,” he added.
When obtained via the PAHO Revolving Funds, the telehealth kits, PAHO said, reduce the cost of purchasing the equipment separately by about 80 percent.
PAHO said add-ons for more specialist care could also be obtained, including ultrasound and fetal monitors for prenatal health care and portable X-ray machines, which have already been key to increasing early diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis in some countries of the region.
PAHO said it works with countries in the Americas on the development of telehealth services, from policy development to planning, training, and implementation.
To facilitate this, PAHO said its All in One Telehealth Package includes open-source software that can be integrated into existing health information systems.
It said the software includes an electronic health record system for managing noncommunicable diseases and a videoconferencing module for teleconsultations.
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