Blockchain technology has proven itself as a breakthrough platform for improving access to capital, transferring money and increasing corporate revenues. But can blockchain technology improve healthcare delivery and health outcomes in poor and developing countries? The good news is that the answer is yes.

Blockchain technology, initially the backbone of Bitcoin, serves to allow transactions without having to trust banks or other third-party members. Since then, it has been discovered that the system can be applied to various industries, including the pharmaceutical industry, and Evident Proof intends to do precisely that. While blockchains are well suited to the EU’s directive, it is worth noting the importance of storing the right information in the first place. In the globally distributed supply chains of medicinal products, there could be opportunities for dishonest parties to attempt to record counterfeit drugs as legitimate ones.

The beauty of the blockchain is that if there are malicious attempts to alter information or add false information, the blockchain will have a traceable record of the attempt serving as evidence for action to be taken.

Blockchain can Digitize Healthcare

In spite of a global technological revolution, Africa still operates on paper. A paper-based system prevents accurate tracking of medical visits, drug prescriptions and other interactions with the healthcare system. A patient may show up at the health clinic week after week with the same symptoms. Lacking the ability to pull up digital records, there is no way to determine the effectiveness of previous treatment strategies. The patient’s health will not improve. His confidence in the ability of healthcare professionals to address his problems is eroded.

A more serious consequence of Africa’s paper systems is the vulnerability of the pharmaceutical market. The absence of a secure system for tracking pharmaceuticals opens the door for fake medications to enter the system, while critical drugs needed to save lives find their way to the black market.

Once consumers develop a distrust of the medical system, they stop coming. The result is that populations are dying from treatable diseases. Carroll was determined to reverse this trend.

Empowering Consumers to Own Their Healthcare

A digital healthcare system has not been difficult to launch. Most developing nations, including those in Africa, have a high percentage of mobile phone ownership. With the proliferation of digital financial apps, there was already a familiarity with online platforms. The challenge was how to rebuild confidence in the healthcare system.

HIV or TB patients were not completing their treatment programs. One reason was due to travel and subsequent loss of income. But patients also had lost confidence in the system itself. Too many deaths were due merely to failing to show up for appointments.

Kinect Hub

Toby Carroll, investment banker and founder of Kinect Hub believes that blockchain technology can dramatically improve the health of Africans. Kinect Hub, founded in 2015, is a blockchain-based healthcare system. Carroll’s goal was to utilize the security and efficiency of blockchain technology to reverse a history of death and chronic disease in Africa due primarily to a poorly managed and highly compromised data system.

Why The Humanity Post?

The World Health Organization has named depression as the greatest cause of suffering worldwide. In the U.S., 1 out of 5 deals with depression or anxiety. For youth, that number increases to 1 in 3.

The good news is that 40% of our happiness can be influenced by intentional thoughts and actions, leading to life changing habits. It’s this 40% that The Humanity Post  help to impact.