Abstract:
The incidence of pathologies like tumors and infections is a significant public health burden in developing countries.
Although telemedicine implementation largely remains a privilege of developed countries with more economic resources, it could be of great utility and efficacy in developing countries lacking appropriate health care facilities by allowing for the performance of good level health care practices. “Share and Meet” project includes a novel intercontinental telematic platform oriented to oncology and its related branches. The project goals are: to provide telecommunication (TLC) services between health care facilities in developed and developing countries including
conference calling, second opinion, and distant learning; to share radiology and microscopy images and patient medical records for diagnostic purposes; and to carry out Good Clinical Practice (GCP) clinical trials through data collection, monitoring, and evaluation. There is currently a longstanding partnership between several Italian
institutions and the Bugando Medical Centre Department of Oncology in Mwanza, Tanzania (BMC‐Tanzania) with cooperative programs including training of BMC medical staff in Italy through e‐learning programs, support in establishing a Radiation Oncology Department in BMC, public health screening programs for the Tanzanian
population, and shared clinical and basic science research programs. The telematic platform, developed by Softmed, is strengthening this remote cooperation and partnership. Services currently available include the sharing of workflows and international GCPs, teleconsulting between the specialists of the hospitals, clinical data remote entry, and monitoring of patients enrolled in research trials. The pilot implementation confirmed the project feasibility. “Share and Meet” is characterized by a high level of innovation based on cost‐effective solutions which increase efficiency and efficacy of health practices, allow interdisciplinary and synergistic cooperation, and can boost the use of telemedicine in low income countries.
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