New Study Investigates the Role of Blockchain-Based Data Capture & Crypto Incentives in Improving Patient Outcomes
MMUST, the premier technology and innovation university in Kenya, and Immunify.Life, a transformative and self-sustaining healthcare ecosystem secured by blockchain, has entered into a partnership that will leverage MMUST’s academic and research prowess and the advanced tech infrastructure of Immunify.Life to address the issue of poor patient data collection, patient relapses, and misaligned incentives with a specific focus on HIV-positive patients in Kenya.
The innovative study was conducted by Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology and Immunify.Life. It uses blockchain technology to redesign the transmission and sharing of health data and to provide treatment incentives in order to improve HIV-positive patients’ health outcomes in Kenya.
It will take place over five years. The main goal is to increase patient outcomes and improve the performance of Kenya’s healthcare system. By carefully designing clinical studies in different regions across Kenya and addressing key healthcare challenges faced by some of the country’s most vulnerable populations, MMUST and Immunify.Life hopes to accurately identify the risk factors, causes, and obstacles faced by HIV patients in contracting HIV, receiving treatment, and adhering to their care regimens.
One of the key features of the first study – which will commence in August – will be the use of Immunify.Life’s token reward system in improving treatment adherence in HIV/AIDS patients. All of the relevant approvals (specifically from the Institutional Ethics Committee and the National Commission for Science, Technology & Innovation) have been granted to MMUST for using Immunify.Life’s technology platform for this study.
While Kenya has achieved a number of UNAID’s HIV 2020 goals, the country still has a long way to go, particularly in the areas of effective and sustained ART (antiretroviral treatment – the primary treatment for HIV/AIDS). About 70% of HIV/AIDS-infected adults in Kenya can access treatment. But, treatment coverage is only 60% for children younger than 15. The MMUST/Immify.Life studies will take place in Kakamega County. There are high rates of HIV/AIDS prevalence and relapse for children and adults. This makes it the ideal location to conduct a detailed, data-intensive analysis on HIV/AIDS, as well as the policy and socioeconomic challenges that keep people from accessing the treatment options available.
Learn Objectives
This study focuses on the impact of paperless and incentive systems on HIV treatment in Kakamega County’s low socio-economic environment. The study also has other objectives:
- Test the efficacy of tokens based on crypto to aid HIV/AIDS treatment adherence in patients who have failed treatment in Kakamega County.
- Assessing the effect of token rewards on healthcare providers
- Identification of socioeconomic factors that may hinder HIV treatment success;
- Developing and testing a cloud-based integrated system that improves treatment adherence in HIV/AIDS patients suspected to have failed treatment.
The HIV treatment outcomes research is a great opportunity for MMUST and Immunify.Life and other partners such as Kenyan health policy strategists and leaders to test the efficacy of blockchain-based data sharing and crypto-based rewards on HIV treatment adherence. The technologies in play have the power to vastly improve treatment adherence and empower patients, communities, and entire countries, and this study hopes to prove beyond any doubt the benefits of an integrated, blockchain-based approach to tackling some of the world’s most important health challenges.
Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology in Kenya is an innovative, technology-orientated university. The university has approximately 17,000 students and focuses on international cooperation. The university has an alliance with Save the Children Fund, which employs approximately 25,000 staff in 117 different countries.
The Immunify.Life team says its mission is to “transform the landscape of health management and data utilization” by strengthening global health systems and access to health data “via an incentivized data capture tool developed for the Immunify.Life disease register.” The organization hopes to scale organically by expanding its patient base through working with various government entities, NGOs and donors.