Estonia Uses WHO Digital Tool To Combat Stigma in Mental Health

People with mental health conditions face a number of challenges when it comes to mental health reform in the WHO European Region due to entrenched stigmas and a fixed mindset. People are now receiving and providing mental health support in more and more countries because of changes at the grassroots level, writes WHO.

One of these countries is Estonia. In 2020, Estonia began transforming its mental health and social care services using the WHO QualityRights toolkit. As of today, the Estonian National Social Insurance Board (ENSIB) has assessed over 30 facilities, ranging from assisted living facilities to residential care homes for people with severe psychosocial and intellectual disabilities.

“When we’re talking about transforming services, we’re talking about transforming relationships,” says Cláudia Braga, a WHO QualityRights trainer with over a decade of experience in service transformation in her home country of Brazil. “You need to consider people with a psychosocial disability as citizens, and you want to promote services that are based on their right to freedom.”

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Forbes names top 10 innovations in 2023 mental health

To come up with a serious overview of the ten innovations in mental health expected in 2023, the French Forbes interviewed seventeen leading experts in digital solutions for mental health. For millions of people concerned around the world, those features are aimed at providing a more precise mental health, one that is more personalized, preventive, and participatory. Here are the findings: 1: Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Metaverse. “Particularly used in situations of phobias, post-traumatic stress disorders, addictions, eating disorders, or the need for relaxation, TERVs (therapies by exposure to virtual reality) are democratizing healthcare services, due to efficiency and non-drug approach”. 2: Web3 “The first interest here lies in the protection of health data, in that web3 guarantees control of it to users and patients, unlike web2, which is based on exchanges of flows that can be exploited for commercial purposes”. 3: Connected objects “Portable and ambient, these polymorphic sensors will indeed soon be usable to observe in real time almost all the patient’s parameters and constants in real time and in real life, behavior and environment” 4: Facial recognition “The visual observation of patients during a consultation or during a therapy makes it possible to extract digital markers in addition to conventional biological markers. From their behavior, additional information on the state of mental health of patients is thus deduced”. 5: Voice recognition “The analysis of the patient’s speech and voice (speed, spontaneity, hesitation, etc.) proves to be very useful in helping practitioners to ensure attentive and close monitoring. It is an easy to collect, inexpensive, and non-invasive signal” 6: UX Design “Because the people concerned are going through a difficult period and are looking for support, it is essential that the solutions show a good psychological understanding of the colors, the cognitive load, and that the courses are thought of as real positive routines”.  7: Social Networks “Often singled out for their sometimes harmful effects on mental health, “social media” platforms nevertheless have a major role to play in the democratization and change of perception of certain mental disorders” 8: Medical Neurostimulation “Here, we are talking more specifically about rTMS (Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation). This medical therapeutic act aims to modulate the metabolism of certain areas of the brain to improve the symptoms of neuropsychiatric pathologies such as depression, obsessive-compulsive disorders, or neuropathic pain”. 9: Chatbots (or conversational agents) “As soon as chatbots become more sophisticated and use conversational artificial intelligence bricks, their potential is increased tenfold. Natural language processing and generation allow freer and more complex exchanges. Thus, chatbots can serve as first-level psychological support”.  10: Digital therapies or DTX “It is fundamental to specify that they are not destined to be autonomous, but well integrated into a broader care ecosystem”

At COP27, WHO calls for health to be in the center of climate talks

The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 27) takes place these days. Climate talks at COP27 are pivotal to health. In the statement at COP27, the World Health Organization reminded the international community at COP27 that the climate crisis continues to exacerbate health problems and endanger lives. Toward tackling the climate crisis, WHO believes the conference must conclude with progress on mitigation, adaptation, financing, and collaboration. At COP27, the world will have the opportunity to come together and reaffirm their commitment to the 1.5°C Paris Agreement. At COP27, WHO set up an innovative health pavilion. Climate action will be placed at the center of discussions in order to address the health threat posed by climate change. People’s health is already being affected by climate change and will continue to do so unless urgent action is taken. “Climate change is making millions of people sick or more vulnerable to disease all over the world and the increasing destructiveness of extreme weather events disproportionately affects poor and marginalized communities,” says Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “It is crucial that leaders and decision makers come together at COP27 to put health at the heart of the negotiations.” Full statement by the WHO here

WHO confirms better clinical outcomes of telemedicine

A new study conducted by WHO/Europe and the Faculty of Health Sciences of the Open University of Catalonia (an approved WHO collaborator in digital health) shows that telemedicine technologies have clear benefits in detecting, diagnosing, managing, treating and monitoring chronic diseases in the European region, iSanidad reports (in Spanish). Digital technologies were used to provide essential healthcare services during the Covid-19 pandemic. Telemedicine has already been considered a cost-effective and accessible method of providing high-quality care and reducing overall morbidity and mortality. Over 20,000 studies covering more than 20,000 patients from 53 countries were analyzed to get an overview of telemedicine in Europe and Central Asia. The use of telemedicine resulted in better clinical conclusions and better follow-up by health professionals. As a result, patients will benefit. “We found that the use of digital tools to deliver health services had a clear and significant effect on patients. We see better clinical outcomes, better follow-up by healthcare professionals, and an overall benefit for both patients and healthcare workers”, explains by Dr David Novillo-Ortiz, regional advisor on data and digital health and lead author of the study.

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Willum Þór: The question remains if our healthcare system is sustainable

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CIFS ran an all-day session at the Week of Health and Innovation (WHINN) in Odense

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New HIMSS book out on blockchain in healthcare

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