Tim Ellis visits The Philippines to work with BAILLIE GIFFORD – THE ALTERNATIVE INTERNSHIP

Antimicrobial diagnostics. Tackling global antimicrobial resistance through diagnostic networking. A feasibility study applied to the Philippines. The ability to diagnose patients […]

Tim Philippines 1

Antimicrobial diagnostics. Tackling global antimicrobial resistance through diagnostic networking. A feasibility study applied to the Philippines.

The ability to diagnose patients is pivotal in curbing the multi-drug resistance pandemic. New availability of portable point-of-care (POC) products brings healthcare access to a whole new market, as patients in rural locations within economically developing countries can be accurately diagnosed and treated. As the rate of computational power in smartphones rises, coupled with reductions in unit price, more POC platforms are tapping into smartphone capacity. Pre-established communication networks within smartphones will enable the transfer of detailed patient data, facilitating global epidemiological tracking.

There is no doubt that diagnostics and large-data transfer will provide huge advantages in tracking emerging epidemics that results from drug resistance. But how can the global application of POC diagnostics be realized and where would its networking be financially appropriate? This internship assessed patient data communication within the Philippines, a country on the front line of multi-drug resistance with a rapidly growing smartphone market. By considering the Philippines as a candidate for diagnostic networking, I hope to demonstrate that investment within POC platforms, and their introduction into the Filipino healthcare system, presents as an economically viable concept.