– “Low cost” innovations to improve the health of tomorrow
A forum bringing together 2000 participants explores the consequences of climate change on health and presents solutions to face these new challenges.
The Cube is a rapidly deployable secure chamber in the event of highly infectious diseases, such as Ebola. Since 2017, around fifty Cubes have already been used.
AURELIE TONINATO
The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the risks induced by the destruction of ecosystems on our health, in particular the transmission of certain viruses from animals to humans. Constraints on the animal and plant world, but also pollution and climate change are leading to an ever-increasing number of deaths. The Geneva Health Forum (GHF), organized by the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and the University Hospitals of Geneva (HUG), has made health in the time of the climate emergency the theme of its 9and editing. Antoine Flahault, co-president of the GHF and director of the UNIGE Global Health Institute, notes the need for a systemic approach to public, animal and environmental health. Taking care of the planet indirectly implies preserving that of Man.
“Frugal” solutions
The forum, which takes place at the International Conference Center from May 3 to 5, brings together 2,000 participants from 80 countries around debates, workshops and around a hundred innovative solutions, which the public can come and discover from 5 p.m. “We want to promote so-called ‘frugal’ solutions, which solve concrete problems with the simplest tools to produce, which are durable and usable in difficult conditions”, explains co-president Antoine Geissbühler, head of the Innovation Center of HUG and vice-rector of UNIGE.
Among these innovations is the development of a global network of sensors to monitor air quality, attempt to improve it and reduce the number of pollution-related deaths – 5 million each year according to the WHO. There is also a sterile operation “chamber” that fits in a backpack, a box capable of generating a wireless network allowing access to a learning platform and educational content without using the internet or the network electric.
Decentralize medicine
The pneumoscope, a digital stethoscope equipped with artificial intelligence, allows it to detect the acoustic signature of a respiratory infection such as bronchiolitis, pneumonia or Covid-19. In low-income countries, where doctors and equipment are concentrated in large cities, respiratory diseases are one of the main causes of death. While a child dies every thirty seconds from pneumonia, the pneumoscope aims to decentralize medicine. It should be marketed by the end of the year, for less than 80 francs.
As for the Cube, a transparent emergency chamber that can be deployed in 90 minutes, it acts as a treatment unit in the event of highly infectious diseases. The carer can carry out 80% of medical acts from the outside, slipping into a kind of integral suit directly connected to the wall of the structure. The idea emerged in connection with the Ebola epidemic, “when we could only spend a few minutes every three hours with patients, explains an official from the international medical NGO Alima, which developed the concept. with its partner Securotec. The Cube allows for more humane care, while guaranteeing infection control.”
Aurelie Toninato has been a journalist for the Geneva section since 2010 and a graduate of the Academy of Journalism and Media (AJM). After having covered the field of Education in particular, she is now in charge of Health, in particular Covid.
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