Dr. Valérie d’Acremont is in charge of the Global Health and Environment Department at Unisanté and is involved in current systemic issues. During her interventions in digital health projects in Africa and Europe, she evaluates the clinical, environmental and social impacts. The sustainability of the health system is one of her major concerns. On the occasion of the 10th edition of the Digital Health Connect event, she will present her vision of the sustainable and integrative medicine of the future in a realistic and concrete perspective, where prevention rather than cure becomes the norm. A pragmatic and challenging story to be discovered on November 3, 2022!
Tropical physician, epidemiologist and expert in global health at Unisanté, University Center for General Medicine and Public Health in Lausanne, as well as at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute in Basel, Dr. Valérie D’Acremont is a proponent of a circular medicine.
Digital yes, but useful!
Eager to help others and to travel, she quickly embarked on studies in tropical medicine. Thereafter, she will seek to be confronted and impregnated by her experiences and encounters in the field in Africa or in Europe.
Thinking about the need for an examination and treatment based on symptoms alone is not something you learn from books! Doing it with the means at hand, empiricism, will consolidate her will to bring a scientific support allowing a better management of the patients (better diagnosis, better treatment).
Antibiotic resistance: her battle horse
Every year, approximately 3.3 million children die from acute fever episodes, particularly in resource-limited countries. The lack of diagnostic tools and clinical guidance for frontline health workers is a major contributor to this situation. On average, a child receives 25 courses of antibiotics before the age of 5! Inappropriate use of antibiotics is the main factor in antibiotic resistance, according to the World Health Organization.
Dr. Valérie d’Acremont is currently leading large digital health projects, aiming to reduce morbidity and mortality, as well as overuse of antibiotics, in patients living in resource-limited countries or returning to Europe from the tropics.
Among its current projects, the DYNAMIC project aims to improve the quality of care provided to children and adolescents (0-14 years) in low-resource settings by implementing clinical decision support algorithms and tests to guide and train health care personnel in the management of sick children. Ultimately, these algorithms could prevent millions of unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions each year in Africa, and potentially in Europe!
With this in mind, Dr. d’Acremont and her team decided to develop a tablet-based interactive clinical management guide based on the patient’s symptoms and the results of simple rapid diagnostic tests. Depending on the situation, the program indicates whether hospital management is required or, if there are no urgent risks, the best treatment to apply. “By this means, we have managed to reduce the prescription of antibiotics in children from 95% to 11% and contributed, at the same time, to improving their recovery.”
A roundtable discussion “toward smarter, more sustainable medicine”
On the occasion of the 10th edition of Digital Health Connect, a roundtable discussion moderated by Zeynep Ersan-Berdoz of Le Temps newspaper will host Pascal Strupler, chairman of the board of directors of Valais Hospital and former director of the FOPH, Dr. Valérie d’Acremont, head of digital and global health at Unisanté, Yannis Papadaniel, head of health at the Fédération Romande des Consommateurs (FRC), Dr. Monique Lehky-Hagen, president of the Société médicale du Valais (SMVs) and Nicolas Loeillot, head of business models and innovation development at CSS Assurance.
In her introductory lecture, Dr. Valérie d’Acremont will take us to the heart of the healthcare system of the future and will question our functioning in terms of sustainability. Between realism and personal vision, don’t miss this intervention rich in perspectives.
Digital Health Connect – November 3, 2022
Clinique romande de réadaptation de Sion (Valais)
Information and registration: www.digitalhealthconnect.ch