Leveraging Global Resources to Create Solutions and Jointly Addressing Global Health Challenges
Under the guidance of the mission and vision of "Tech for Social Good," Tencent SSV Innovation Lab for Inclusive Health has established a robust co-creation mechanism with multiple partners, including relevant departments, professional institutions, renowned experts, and non-profit organizations. By building digital tools and introducing intelligent diagnostic assistance tools, the project has promoted the digital development of health public service systems in low-resource health areas. Furthermore, the project has conducted professional skill training for hundreds of maternal and child health workers from over 10 countries through various international platforms such as ASEAN, Central Asia-Shanghai Cooperation Organization, including but not limited to training classes for rural women in developing countries on "two cancers" (cervical and breast cancer) screening, China-ASEAN cancer prevention and control training classes, China-ASEAN training classes on preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV, syphilis, and hepatitis B, international training classes on prevention and control of cervical and breast cancer for Central Asian and Shanghai Cooperation Organization member countries, training classes for rural women in developing countries on "two cancers" screening, and China-ASEAN maternal and child health promotion training classes.
Digital Intelligence Platform Achieves Full-process Management Loop, Online Training Platform
The project relies on digital and intelligent capabilities to promote the integration and efficiency of resources, enhance the capacity of primary health services, and explore new paths to address issues in low-resource health areas.
1. The use of digital tools promotes the standardization and simplification of work processes, addressing issues such as low levels of work standardization, high volumes of repetitive manual work, and numerous process interruptions, effectively preventing the occurrence of patient loss to follow-up. Rapid entry of various information through mobile phone photography, real-time generation and automatic circulation of process data, liberates medical staff from a large amount of paperwork. In addition, quality control parties can view various reports in real-time, monitor project progress and outcomes; traceable case establishment allows women of appropriate age to check their screening history at home, avoiding the issue of repeated screening after queuing on-site, greatly improving the efficiency of each medical visit. The phenomenon of screening without treatment is controlled: all 4,000 diagnosed children with congenital heart disease are included in a follow-up management system for continuous tracking. Additionally, doctors can recall patients using an outbound tool.
2. The creation of an online training system addresses issues such as high costs and the limited coverage of offline training. The construction of the system effectively improves the comprehensive capabilities of primary care physicians, releases human resources, improves the quality of health services, and reduces the risk of misdiagnosis and missed diagnoses. Utilizing scattered time over a week for online learning can increase the diagnostic accuracy rate of trained doctors by 23%. The system’s engaging nature and personalized learning paths enhance participant satisfaction, with a recommendation willingness rate of 94%.
The Project Has Achieved Extensive Benefits and Its Potential for Global Promotion Is Becoming Increasingly Evident
So far, the project has benefited 330,000 newborns and 300,000 women in China. In pilot areas, the initial screening for congenital heart disease in newborns has achieved full coverage, and more than 10 counties have met the goal of "70% cervical cancer screening rate for women of appropriate age" ahead of schedule. Moreover, the project has increased the referral rate for congenital heart disease children from about 30% to 81%, significantly reducing repeated screenings for the two cancers. Furthermore, the communication time for recalling patients with positive screenings for the two cancers has been reduced from 30 minutes to 3 minutes, the screening coverage rate has increased from 15% to 60%, the average communication time between doctors and patients has been reduced from 30 minutes to 3 minutes, and the follow-up rate in some areas has reached 100%, comprehensively improving the efficiency and quality of screening.
It is expected that the promotion over three years will directly benefit over one million women, reduce the screening costs by 35%, detect thousands of precancerous/cancerous lesions early, achieve early intervention and treatment, and save hundreds of patients at risk of death. In light of this, the project has been recognized by governments in various parts of China and the idea of replicating the model has been proposed.
The project team is negotiating with institutions from Nepal, Myanmar, Belgium, Egypt, Chile, and other countries. It is planned to form a replicable and scalable model globally by 2025, with at least one international pilot site.
The World Internet Conference (WIC) was established as an international organization on July 12, 2022, headquartered in Beijing, China. It was jointly initiated by Global System for Mobile Communication Association (GSMA), National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team/Coordination Center of China (CNCERT), China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), Alibaba Group, Tencent, and Zhijiang Lab.