#Healthcare #ePOA

UK Digital Health Technology Improves Outcomes For Patients In The Gambia

Definition Health has announced that part of its total digital surgical solution, initially developed for patients in the NHS and private hospital sector, is now being deployed in The Gambia.

Its LifeBox pre-operative health assessment (ePOA) app is now being used to enable remote care of orthopaedic patients and provide Gambian clinical teams with remote assistance from medics in the UK to help them in diagnosis and treatment. It is the first national virtual fracture clinic in the world to run off a single digital platform and already data is showing that it will prevent 50% of patients having to travel long distances for treatment.

In March 2022, Dr Rosie Scott, a consultant radiologist, and co-founder of Definition Health, volunteered in the Gambia, as part of the Gam Med Charity (Gambia Medical UK Partnership) to train local medics on the LifeBox ePOA. The Gambia lies in West Africa and is the smallest country within mainland Africa, with a population of 2.1 million people. By western standards healthcare provision is extremely limited. Most secondary healthcare is provided in the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital (EFSTH) in the capital, Banjul. 

In The Gambia, many patients with injuries use traditional medicine and healers. Fractures are often bound with sticks which result in malunion or non-union leading to significant permanent deformity. The resulting deformities would pose a significant orthopaedic challenge to reconstruct the limb in the western world, let alone in The Gambia. Adding to this challenge, many patients will travel over 100 miles to EFSTH with these injuries without an initial consultation or appointment – often leading to overwhelmed clinics, delayed treatment and in many cases, disappointment for patients.

In 2018, Dr Kebba Marenah was employed as the country’s first Gambian orthopaedic consultant. He completed his medical training in the UK, including his orthopaedic registrar training in Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust (now known as University Hospitals Sussex). Dr Marenah led the orthopaedic arm of the West African College of Surgeons Outreach programme to the Gambia. He, along with Mr James Gibbs and...READ MORE

Related Articles

View All
MoHAP Exceeds Diabetes Screening Goal with Over 150,000 Tests MedEdge MEA

The Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) has surpassed the Diabetes early detection goal, carrying out more than 150,000 screenings nationwide, above the target of 1...

Read More
Things to Consider When Your Child Needs Speech Therapy Infomedix International

Children progress and learn to communicate at different rates. For some children, communication can be an unexpected hurdle that requires special attention. Developmental...

Read More
Galaxy AI is Coming to New Galaxy Watch for More Motivational Health MedEdge MEA

Earlier this year, Samsung established the era of mobile AI with the launch of the Galaxy S24 series and committed to introducing Galaxy AI1 to a wider range of devices....

Read More
Grünenthal acquires US-company Valinor Pharma and becomes global owner of Movantik® Infomedix International

Grünenthal today announced the acquisition of US-based Valinor Pharma, LLC (“Valinor”) and its product Movantik® (naloxegol), with a total deal value of approx. 0 million...

Read More
The Two Sides of Brazilian Healthcare Infomedix International

Economic Profile - As of late 2010, Brazil’s economy is the largest of Latin America, the second largest in the Americas (after the U.S.) and among the ten largest in the...

Read More
Japan’s World-Class System Infomedix International

Japan, located in Northeast Asia, is an archipelago set between the Sea of Japan to the west and the Pacif Ocean to the east. It shares no contiguous land borders with an...

Read More
UN Progress Report Highlights Efforts to Improve Lives of Older People MedEdge MEA

The World Health Organization (WHO) and UN partners have released the first progress report for the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing. The report highlights efforts to improve...

Read More
Rethinking Healthcare Infomedix International

Equity is a value in the Danish healthcare system, and healthcare is an important part of its welfare system, resulting in a heavily financed public funds system, experie...

Read More
UK Digital Health Technology Improves Outcomes For Patients In The Gambia Infomedix International

Definition Health has announced that part of its total digital surgical solution, initially developed for patients in the NHS and private hospital sector, is now being de...

Read More
Menu
Categories
How does it work