-
Americas
-
Asia & Oceania
-
A-I
J-Z
EMEA Thought Leadership
Developing IQVIA’s positions on key trends in the pharma and life sciences industries, with a focus on EMEA.
Learn more -
Middle East & Africa
EMEA Thought Leadership
Developing IQVIA’s positions on key trends in the pharma and life sciences industries, with a focus on EMEA.
Learn more
Regions
-
Americas
-
Asia & Oceania
-
Europe
-
Middle East & Africa
-
Americas
-
Asia & Oceania
-
Europe
Europe
- Adriatic
- Belgium
- Bulgaria
- Czech Republic
- Deutschland
- España
- France
- Greece
- Hungary
- Ireland
- Israel
- Italia
EMEA Thought Leadership
Developing IQVIA’s positions on key trends in the pharma and life sciences industries, with a focus on EMEA.
Learn more -
Middle East & Africa
EMEA Thought Leadership
Developing IQVIA’s positions on key trends in the pharma and life sciences industries, with a focus on EMEA.
Learn more
SOLUTIONS
-
Research & Development
-
Real World Evidence
-
Commercialization
-
Safety & Regulatory Compliance
-
Technologies
LIFE SCIENCE SEGMENTS
HEALTHCARE SEGMENTS
- Information Partner Services
- Financial Institutions
- Global Public Health
- Government
- Patient Associations
- Payers
- Providers
THERAPEUTIC AREAS
- Cardiovascular
- Cell and Gene Therapy
- Central Nervous System
- GI & Hepatology
- Infectious Diseases and Vaccines
- Oncology
- Pediatrics
- Rare Diseases
- View All
Impacting People's Lives
"We strive to help improve outcomes and create a healthier, more sustainable world for people everywhere.
LEARN MORE
Harness the power to transform clinical development
Reimagine clinical development by intelligently connecting data, technology, and analytics to optimize your trials. The result? Faster decision making and reduced risk so you can deliver life-changing therapies faster.
Research & Development OverviewResearch & Development Quick Links
Real World Evidence. Real Confidence. Real Results.
Generate and disseminate evidence that answers crucial clinical, regulatory and commercial questions, enabling you to drive smarter decisions and meet your stakeholder needs with confidence.
REAL WORLD EVIDENCE OVERVIEWReal World Evidence Quick Links
See markets more clearly. Opportunities more often.
Elevate commercial models with precision and speed using AI-driven analytics and technology that illuminate hidden insights in data.
COMMERCIALIZATION OVERVIEWCommercialization Quick Links
Service driven. Tech-enabled. Integrated compliance.
Orchestrate your success across the complete compliance lifecycle with best-in-class services and solutions for safety, regulatory, quality and medical information.
COMPLIANCE OVERVIEWSafety & Regulatory Compliance Quick Links
Intelligence that transforms life sciences end-to-end.
When your destination is a healthier world, making intelligent connections between data, technology, and services is your roadmap.
TECHNOLOGIES OVERVIEWTechnology Quick Links
CLINICAL PRODUCTS
COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS
COMPLIANCE, SAFETY, REG PRODUCTS
BLOGS, WHITE PAPERS & CASE STUDIES
Explore our library of insights, thought leadership, and the latest topics & trends in healthcare.
DISCOVER INSIGHTSTHE IQVIA INSTITUTE
An in-depth exploration of the global healthcare ecosystem with timely research, insightful analysis, and scientific expertise.
SEE LATEST REPORTS
FEATURED INNOVATIONS
-
IQVIA Connected Intelligence™
-
IQVIA Healthcare-grade AI™
-
IQVIA AI Assistant
-
Human Data Science Cloud
-
IQVIA Innovation Hub
-
Decentralized Trials
-
Patient Experience Solutions with Apple devices
WHO WE ARE
- Our Story
- Our Impact
- Commitment to Public Health
- Code of Conduct
- Sustainability
- Privacy
- Executive Team
NEWS & RESOURCES
Unlock your potential to drive healthcare forward
By making intelligent connections between your needs, our capabilities, and the healthcare ecosystem, we can help you be more agile, accelerate results, and improve patient outcomes.
LEARN MORE
IQVIA AI is Healthcare-grade AI
Building on a rich history of developing AI for healthcare, IQVIA AI connects the right data, technology, and expertise to address the unique needs of healthcare. It's what we call Healthcare-grade AI.
LEARN MORE
Meet the IQVIA AI Assistant
Your new expert analyst is here. Be at the forefront of data-driven decision-making with a new generative AI tool that enables you to interact with our products and solutions like never before. Get results you can trust, faster.
LEARN MORE
Your healthcare data deserves more than just a cloud.
The IQVIA Human Data Science Cloud is our unique capability designed to enable healthcare-grade analytics, tools, and data management solutions to deliver fit-for-purpose global data at scale.
LEARN MORE
Innovations make an impact when bold ideas meet powerful partnerships
The IQVIA Innovation Hub connects start-ups with the extensive IQVIA network of assets, resources, clients, and partners. Together, we can help lead the future of healthcare with the extensive IQVIA network of assets, resources, clients, and partners.
LEARN MORE
Proven, faster DCT solutions
IQVIA Decentralized Trials deliver purpose-built clinical services and technologies that engage the right patients wherever they are. Our hybrid and fully virtual solutions have been used more than any others.
LEARN MORE
IQVIA Patient Experience Solutions with Apple devices
Empowering patients to personalize their healthcare and connecting them to caregivers has the potential to change the care delivery paradigm.
LEARN MOREWORKING AT IQVIA
Our mission is to accelerate innovation for a healthier world. Together, we can solve customer challenges and improve patient lives.
LEARN MORELIFE AT IQVIA
Careers, culture and everything in between. Find out what’s going on right here, right now.
LEARN MORE
WE’RE HIRING
"Improving human health requires brave thinkers who are willing to explore new ideas and build on successes. Unleash your potential with us.
SEARCH JOBSBlog
Paving the Way for Digital Health in North, East and West Africa
Feb 10, 2020
Africa faces a growing burden of communicable and noncommunicable diseases due to inadequate and deficient health infrastructure, regional disparities of medical and paramedical resources, and a lack of information communicated to patients.
In Malawi, for example, there is only one physician per 53,000 citizens, one surgeon per 1,000,000 people and a 7% infantile death rate among children younger than 5 years.
To help solve the inefficiencies and resource gaps in the healthcare systems in the continent, African countries need technological solutions that are pragmatic, affordable and easy to access.
The rapidly growing internet penetration of the continent, the first necessary step as part of this solution, is already afoot, and the number of internet and social media users throughout Africa is a promising sign.
Sources: Population - United Nations; U.S. Census bureau. Mobile: GSMA intelligence. Internet: internetworldstats; ITU; World Bank; CIA world factbook; Eurostat; local government bodies and regulatory authorities; mideastmedia.org; reports in reputable media. Social media - platforms’ self-serve advertising tools; press releases and investor earnings announcements; Arab social media report; Techrasa; Niki Aghaei; rose.ru. (all latest available data in January 2019).
E-Health Companies: Already a Reality
Current Healthcare situation has also encouraged the emergence of dozens of healthcare startups aiming at easing pressure on traditional health services and helping patients better manage their conditions.
The pharmaceutical industry, aware of these challenges and the need for a radical change in the way it operates, has set up incubators for these Health-Techs to support them and help them develop and deploy innovative solutions to some of the most pressing challenges healthcare systems in the region face.
Sanofi, Bayer, Merck or Pierre Fabre are a few examples of pharmaceutical multinationals providing mentoring & financial support to e-Health start-ups in Africa. (see image below)
Source: IQVIA Analysis
E-health companies are already a reality in the continent, providing diversified services and contributing to greater care access and improved patient wellbeing. Examples of such e-health efforts include:
In Morocco, the Ministry of Health is in the process of implementing a promising pilot project to ensure better access to care for people in landlocked regions through the gradual deployment of telemedicine units in 160 isolated municipalities, representing 6.25% of the population by 2025.
In Algeria, AQUINETIC, a DSAAS (Data Science as a Service) startup, offers solutions to visualize rare diseases data.
AHMINI in Tunisia provides a simplified subscription to health insurance for rural women via mobile phone.
SUSU in Côte d’Ivoire is a platform offering healthcare packages (prevention, treatment and medication) to African diaspora once back to their home country.
Kenyan start-up KEHEALA developed a mobile health platform that empowers patients with behavioral intervention and disease management.
WellNewMe in Nigeria designed an online platform assessing health risks of individuals using an algorithmic approach.
Digital Migration of Healthcare Professionals and Patients in North Africa
Recent studies conducted by IQVIA in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia demonstrated that healthcare professionals (physicians) and patients have already taken the digital leap.
Four out of 10 doctors are already active in digital media, and more than 50% of them confirm that usage of digital media has increased over the last few years.
The same trend has been observed for patients, almost a third of whom have used apps for health purposes, and half of them check doctors’ prescriptions on the Internet (see image below).
These behaviors showcase the paradigm shift in the way HCPs and patients approach their daily healthcare interactions. Therefore, it is crucial for the pharmaceutical industry and healthcare stakeholders to adapt to this new reality and explore innovative solutions to meet patients’ new and growing expectations.
The growing number of patients participating in the management of their own health has also resulted in an increasing focus of pharmaceutical companies on Patient Support Programs.
These programs aim to improve the quality of life for patients and increase patient adherence to treatments by offering numerous services, including disease information, online access to nurses and healthcare professionals or financial assistance.
New technology platforms available today in Africa greatly facilitate these programs and enable the inclusion, education and follow-up of a significant number of patients on priority diseases for most African countries (diabetes, oncology, etc.).
Pathway towards concretizing a robust digital healthcare ecosystem in Africa
The sustainable and holistic implementation of a digital health ecosystem should focus on four areas:
- Standardization: Health systems have numerous stakeholders (doctors, pharmacists, paramedics, patients, administrators, financiers). Everyone speaks a different language, making standardization a necessity.
- Regulatory compliance: As there is no clear regulatory framework in Digital Health, and given the sensitive nature of patient data, it is vital to strike the right balance between protecting patient data to comply with local laws and making health professionals’ data available for optimal patient care.
- Coordination: Several e-health systems involving governments, NGOs, private investors and software companies operate in the absence of coordination between these different stakeholders, making these systems redundant and ineffective. Synchronized action between the various stakeholders would save time and improve productivity.
- Tailor-made business model: Unlike other industries where technological innovation increases choice and lowers prices, healthcare innovation tends to drive prices up, hence the need to find the right compromise in order to ease access to these solutions to as many patients as possible.
Healthcare stakeholders in African countries must leverage the current digital health trends to address current infrastructure and resource gaps. This will implicate combined and simultaneous actions involving health authorities, health care providers and payers with a fluid exchange of information, enabling cost optimization for governments and payers, and a focus on more effective treatments for patients. This approach would also benefit from the establishment of public-private partnerships (PPPs) that would allow the two sectors to work together and implement strategic measures and appropriate regulations to achieve sustainable, long-term results.
For more details on healthcare technologies and digital trends in Africa, please contact us.