UBIHEALTH · Exchange of Excellence in Ubiquitous Computing Technologies to Address Healthcare Challenges

Exchange of Excellence in Ubiquitous Computing Technologies to Address Healthcare Challenges

Healthcare models are undergoing a fundamental shift from treatment-based approaches to preventative medicine. This shift can be witnessed throughout developed and developing world in various extents and has been necessitated as a consequence of increasing strain on healthcare institutions to deliver quality care. Due to demographic changes and increasing incidence of various lifestyle-related diseases (such as cardio-vascular for example) it is no longer sufficient to treat and then retreat a disease as required, without addressing the issue of lifestyle habits. The care provisioning costs of preventative medicine are lower in comparison to the treatment- based model, due to patients spending less time in healthcare institutions. Clearly, not all diseases can be prevented; however, preventative measures and lifestyle changes can significantly lower diseases incidence in general population. Therefore, preventative medicine model does not target patients only; general population is encouraged to lead a healthy lifestyle through various media campaigns and advice from physicians. The UBI-HEALTH program aim is to create a stimulating research exchange foundation that will equip Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) from different continents with expertise in Pervasive Healthcare through their closer interrelation with Experienced Researchers (ERs). The knowledge of requirements and available technologies for healthcare will be shared and become complementary between ESRs, researchers and host institutions from Europe and the associated third countries. This will allow ESRs to put this knowledge in use in their own context, improving healthcare provisioning and impacting on both preventative medicine and alternative means of treatment. Through the UBIHEALTH collaboration it has been possible to enable ESRs to experiment with novel technologies and approaches in different healthcare contexts and to establish a network of pairs between Europe and third countries. Overall, the project manage to organise various summer and winter schools, workshops and conferences including the International Pervasive Health Conference. Additionally the collaboration in UBIHEALTH project produced 8 project proposals from which 4 received funding and 52 joint publications in various workshops, conferences and journals.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз