How are health inequalities related to socioeconomic status? And how can we change this? The three speakers at Zorg2025 agree that customization is the key to success. “Now is the time to do even more prevention.”
Pointer's NPO1 broadcast on 17 May on the road to circular textile clarifies where the major gaps are. Several interviewees provide an open and transparent view. It also shows a distorted picture in parts. Indeed, textiles are the most polluting industry. Converting the enormous mountain of waste from textile to circular solutions has been a process with sky-high ambitions for many years. This market is therefore far from mature and that is precisely why many parties in the Amsterdam region are also working on this complex challenge. Because they believe that things must and can be done differently. But no one can do this alone. Not even the government.
In what’s truly a match made in healthcare innovation heaven, one of the largest medical diagnostics laboratories in the Netherlands, Atalmedial, is currently collaborating with AI Startup Lab (an initiative by ACE) to streamline anaemia treatments. As the company explores the potential of AI to bring more value to their clients, the young student team confronts a real-world problem using a comprehensive anonymised data set. “This access to so much data is rare,” explains one of the AI team. “So, if there’s a signal there, we’ll find it.”
How do we gain healthy years of life in vulnerable neighborhoods through better nutrition, more exercise, information and system change? The members of Young on Board recently addressed this question from a member of the Amsterdam Economic Board.
“The problems of our time, such as climate change, cannot be tackled by the government alone. More than ever before, we have to make use of networks of citizens and companies, ”says Board member Jacqueline Cramer in an opinion article in Het Parool.
At a time when we are pushing our way out of this social, Covid-related crisis, we are focusing on health inequalities. How do these - like their analysis and approach - relate to socio-economic status? And how can we make a positive change in this?
The Board has been working with a wide range of partners for some time to develop concrete investment propositions for themes such as circular textiles and the Amsterdam region as a bicycle metropolis or other firm agreements for employment and a smart, green and healthy region. Interesting coalitions have now emerged with parties that are actively engaged. To reinforce this, the authorities in the MRA are preparing to make five concrete agreements during the MRA Sustainability Top 2021 in October.
Data is crucial for the Amsterdam-based startup Clear. The company offers a personalized nutrition plan based on glucose readings from customers themselves. In this way, Clear hopes not only to contribute to a healthier Amsterdam Metropolitan Area, but also to the democratization of health data.
Above all, a smart, green and healthy region must also become an inclusive region. That is how Pantar director Lex de Boer feels. With a membership of the Network Council, he hopes that the social development company can contribute to this.
At Innovation for Health 2021, it became clear that an ambitious vision has crystallised over the last year of lockdowns. A unified data infrastructure backed by complementary collaborating parties can drive AI-backed innovation: not only to improve health and healthcare, but also to prepare us against future pandemics. “What would it cost in the Netherlands? Five hundred million euros is peanuts against what was lost in the last year.” Is it time for a Delta Plan for data?
