Denver, Colorado (PRWEB) February 23, 2016 -- SureAdhere Mobile Technology, Inc.™ (“SureAdhere”), this week announced expanded accessibility to its mHealth platform with the release of a VDOT Application for iOS and an version of its enhanced Android OS application. Backed by peer reviewed clinical research, the platform is a cost-effective method to ensure patient compliance for tuberculosis (TB) treatment. SureAdhere announced the mobile app update at the National Tuberculosis Conference in Denver, Colorado.
“We are very pleased to present VDOT on multiple platforms, making it an ideal choice and turnkey solution for health departments, both big and small. Backed by years of research and evaluation, SureAdhere launched less than a year ago, and has already rolled out in health departments across five states. With this early momentum we aim to meet our long-term mission of affordably scaling VDOT into low and middle income countries where the TB burden is highest,” said Dr. Richard Garfein, PhD, MPH, SureAdhere Co-founder and Chief Science Officer.
SureAdhere launched the mobile health platform last June, following a series of successful U.S. and international academic studies conducted by the University of California, San Diego. One-third of the world’s population harbors the TB bacteria, and nearly 9 million people fell ill to the disease in 2014, resulting in 1.5 million deaths. Curative treatment for TB requires six to 24 months, making it difficult for patients to remain adherent until completion. If patients skip doses or stop early, the disease can return and the bacteria can become drug-resistant (MDR-TB and XDR TB).
The SureAdhere VDOT platform offers a secure and simple-to-use alternative to in-person directly observed therapy (DOT). TB patients use the mobile app to video-record their medication ingestion. The videos are automatically encrypted and uploaded to a secure cloud server where health workers view videos and make relevant notes in the system’s patient database. Health workers report seeing 15 patients in the same amount of time they use to observe two or three in person. Patients also benefit from the text messaging capability for medication reminders and communicating with their providers.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend DOT for monitoring treatment adherence. In DOT, health workers personally observe patients taking each medication dose ideally for the entire course of treatment. Though effective, DOT is costly and inefficient because it requires daily coordination of patient and provider schedules, as well as travel to meet with patients. Using SureAdhere VDOT, TB control programs can save thousands of dollars per patient while still providing high quality care for their patients to improve compliance and cure rates.
For More Information:
“Monitoring Therapy Adherence of Tuberculosis Patients by using Video-Enabled Electronic Devices” Story A, Garfein R, Hayward A, et al., Emerging Infectious Diseases. 2016;22(3):538-540. http://www.c.cdc.gov/eid/article/22/3/15-1620_article
“Feasibility of tuberculosis treatment monitoring by video directly observed therapy: a binational pilot study.” Garfein RS, Collins K, Munoz F, et al. International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease. 2015;19(9):1057-1064.
About SureAdhere Mobile Technology, Inc.:
SureAdhere Mobile Technology, Inc. is a San Diego based provider of a unique mobile health platform enabling improved medication adherence monitoring for patients with TB and other conditions requiring strict treatment monitoring. Co-founded by Chief Science Officer, Richard Garfein, PhD, MPH, a global health expert in infectious disease epidemiology and prevention, SureAdhere’s primary focus is on the treatment and cure of TB globally. For more information about SureAdhere visit http://www.sureadhere.com, email [email protected] or call (858) 812-2878.
Debra Daugherty, SureAdhere, http://sureadhere.com, +1 7703319290, [email protected]
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