Kinshasa, July 10th, 2021 (CPA).- The French Institute of Kinshasa (IFK) organized Thursday as part of its program « Digital Thursdays of the media library » an exchange on the theme « Health care and digital » addressed by Dr Emmanuel Epenge, neuropsychiatrist at the Center Neuro Psycho Pathologique (CNPP).
Dr Epenge said digital technology is revolutionizing the way medicine is practiced today in the DRC. Hospitals use computers and tablets for registering and identifying patients. Digital health envisages the improvement of electronic information, the strengthening of medical services, the management of the health system, security and the protection of the privacy of patients.
In addition, studies have shown that life expectancy in the DRC increased in 2018 to 56.5 years for men and 59.7 years for women.
The crude death rate fell from 11.06 per 1,000 inhabitants in 2011 to 9.4 deaths in 2018, which represents a marked improvement. The health situation of mothers, newborns and children is always marked by excess mortality from preventable causes.
Malaria is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the DRC and continues to represent more than 40% of causes of infant mortality.
The WHO surveillance surveys for the city of Kinshasa reveal that in people over 15 years of age, the prevalence of arterial hypertension (HTA) is 11% and that of diabetes is 15.5%, consumption of psychoactive substances such as tobacco, alcohol and drugs constitutes a serious public health problem.
Dr Epenge underlined that the delivery of health care and services in the country is experiencing recurring priority problems, in particular the low health coverage, the low operational capacity of structures at all levels to carry out interventions, the low quality of care and services. services offered, low use of care and available services.
Presentation of the medical application « Congo Medika »
Dr Epenge presented during this exchange his medical application called « Congo Medika » which is one of the solutions for digital health care in the DRC.
He explained that « Congo Medika » is an organization which contributes daily to the well-being of the Congolese population. Created two years ago, « Congo Medika » can be downloaded from « Play store ». Thanks to its multidisciplinary team, it provides quality medical services at home because it has been observed that in the DRC 82% of households are not satisfied with the care services offered by the public health system.
« Congo Medika » offers several services including home medical consultation by general practitioners and specialists, nursing care, drug delivery, monthly health advice, etc.
« Congo Medika » was created following the observation of the problems, namely chronic diseases not detected and monitored, poor referral of patients, lack of time to seek treatment and the circulation of counterfeit drugs, said Dr Epenge.
He announced at the same time that his « pain clinic » is organizing the campaign of consultations, awareness and free management of all kinds of pain, from July 3 to 31, 2021. Those affected can go to the head office on the site. avenue Vivi n ° 23, wenze district, in the municipality of Kintambo. ACP/
