Transforming Digital Diagnostics with Imperial College London
Most of the population of sub-Saharan Africa do not have access to adequate diagnostics for important health problems like infectious diseases. The infrastructure and training needed for everyone to have easy access to high quality “bricks and mortar” diagnostic laboratories are currently unaffordable and may be unnecessary. A new generation of digital diagnostic approaches offer a solution to this problem which could underpin more efficient and equitable healthcare, delivered at the point of need. However, these new technologies will only be able to leapfrog traditional approaches if they are enabled by a conducive policy and regulatory environment.
Bringing together policy and strategy expertise with researchers from six large international consortium projects, we will present integrated digital solutions utilizing diverse approaches, including:
– Point-of-care molecular detection methods for infectious diseases.
– Artificial intelligence image analysis for diagnosis of tuberculosis and other diseases.
– Data-driven decision support tools for infections in newborn infants.
We will discuss the application of digital diagnostic tools to other diseases, and we will illustrate the power of data generated from digital diagnostics, for disease surveillance and real time decision making. We will discuss facilitators and barriers to integration of digital diagnostics into health systems, including regulatory challenges, and will share our experience of building successful partnerships to develop novel solutions and overcome barriers.