FutureProofing Healthcare today announced the results of its Latin America Personalized Medicine Index, the first resource of its kind to provide a unique overview of the current state of ten health systems in the region. The results of the index reveal that Costa Rica ranked third, but the most important thing is that all countries are moving towards the provision of personalized medicine services, although some countries are closer to achieving this goal than others.
FutureProofing Healthcare is an international initiative, supported by Roche, and has been designed by leading independent experts to promote conversations around the interventions needed to prepare health systems for the future.
Under strong pressure
The health systems in our region have been under strong pressure due to the aging of the population, a higher prevalence of chronic diseases, infrastructure problems, fragmentation of services and scarcity of resources, all exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
This highlighted the importance of making better use of our current healthcare resources and increasing access to quality healthcare services. More resilient and future-proof health systems have the potential to improve the lives of millions of people and support progress toward meeting societal goals, such as an equitable and sustainable health system for all.
Driving health systems planning
The index is a tool designed to create useful parameters and information to drive health systems planning and provide a transparent comparison of country readiness to enable policy makers, clinicians, health organizations, patients and anyone interested in health identify good practices and work as a team to promote the evolution of health systems for the future. Personalized medicine, which is synonymous with data-driven medicine, has the potential to unlock an unprecedented amount of benefits for patients and society.
Worn out
“Latin American health systems are worn out, and there is a clear need to rethink the way we approach health care from a data-driven approach. Having access to large sets of health data from diverse sources can provide powerful insights that enable us to identify disease patterns in populations, better prevent or control disease, and ultimately better manage resources and build more health systems. sustainable and equitable,” said Dr. Rubén Torres, former superintendent of Health Services of Argentina.
The Personalized Medicine Index is made up of 33 measures divided into four categories called pillars, which measure the progress of medical care towards a more personalized, digital and data-driven standard. The four pillars are health information, personalized technologies, political context, and health services.
The index assesses the health systems of Latin America: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru and Uruguay. The results of the index reveal that Costa Rica ranks first in terms of access to cancer registries, which demonstrates its good coordination bases for the care of cancer patients. In addition, the robust data infrastructure and the large proportion of individuals with Internet access in homes and mobile phones stand out, achieving significant progress towards universal health care.
Rethinking personalized health systems, especially in regions like Latin America, can be challenging due to a number of systemic shortcomings to overcome. However, the use of data to support therapeutic decisions and investments and to provide personalized or data-driven healthcare, promotes better clinical outcomes that improve quality of life and efficiency by offering more integrated and humanized healthcare.
Achievements and opportunities
“The findings of the Personalized Medicine Index of Latin America highlight the achievements and opportunities of the countries in their journey towards personalized and data-driven medicine. Our goal with this index is to provide a framework for identifying and amplifying best practices and promoting an integrated approach to building resilient health systems today and in the future. We are proud of our partnership with leading health policy experts to present this detailed view of our health systems and we hope that it will continue to promote collaboration among different players in the healthcare industry to make personalized medicine a reality in America. Latina ”, said Dr. María Clara Horsburgh, director of Medical Affairs at Roche Central America and the Caribbean.
FutureProofing Healthcare brings together the core elements of Roche’s vision for a better future for healthcare, including treatment innovation, technological advancements, an understanding of human biology, and the ability to analyze data to transform the promise into reality. of personalized medicine throughout Latin America. The index was developed in collaboration with independent experts from patient organizations, health systems, think tanks, and academics to help countries improve patient access to personalized medicine by providing models and examples that they can adopt and follow.
