Can Symbolic Rewards Improve Outcomes for HIV Patients in Africa?

A groundbreaking 5-year study on whether incentives for crypto tokens can improve health outcomes for HIV / AIDS patients will be launched later this year in Kenya.

On November 1, the blockchain-based healthcare ecosystem Immunify.Daily life and Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (MMUST) announced that they had received the necessary ethics and national committee approvals to start the study.

Together, they will conduct a five-year HIV / AIDS study that will begin in the Kakamega County area of ​​Kenya before the end of 2021 before expanding to the rest of the country.

MMUST will use Immunify.Existence’s blockchain technology to collect and analyze patient data to improve HIV treatment outcomes. It assesses whether patients achieve better treatment outcomes when they are incentivized with symbolic rewards for healthy behavior identified by project sponsors such as NGOs and organizations.

Immunify.Everyday Living CEO Person Newing told Cointelegraph:

“The program we are testing will provide symbolic incentives to encourage patients with casualties to go to the clinic for treatment.”

Patients and doctors are rewarded with native ERC-20 IMM tokens from Immunify.Lifestyle. They could be offered to “complete a prescribed course of antibiotics for TB” and “encourage HIV patients to come to the clinic regularly for tests and treatment.”

According to Newing, health care workers are also rewarded for positive behavior, such as “correctly filling out counseling papers, ordering certain TB tests, or completing a medical course.”

Every patient who uses the platform is given a non-erasable health ID (NFT) token in order to collect vital medical data such as vaccination cards. This data is then transferred to a digital registry for remote medical monitoring and real-time data access for healthcare professionals.

The study sample size was 600 patients. Half will receive the token incentive and the other half will act as controls and will not receive any token rewards. Patients will be followed up for six months and receive monthly active treatment and monitoring.

The study will also track the effectiveness of using a paperless health tracking system in a socioeconomically depressed area.

Newing says, “Treatment data, critical medical data can be collected in real time, time-stamped and assured that it cannot be hacked or tampered with. Initially, the platform will use a second-layer solution on Ethereum with Polygon, with the long-term plan to form a bridge with Cardano.

In addition to the token prizes offered by the sponsors, patients also benefit financially from the sale of anonymized medical data. Immunify.Everyday Living is currently conducting a private round for strategic and institutional investors before an initial DEX offer (IDO) is planned for early 2022.

“Patients get control of their data and some of the financial rewards. The system is funded by fees charged to organizations that fund and provide health care. “

In addition to working on HIV in Kenya, Immunify.Everyday living applies its blockchain technology to two other treatment areas, COVID-19 and opioid addiction.

Related: How blockchain will revolutionize healthcare

According to UNAIDS 2020, an estimated 1.5 million people are living with HIV in Kenya. Although 70% of these patients are undergoing treatment, there are currently difficulties with monitoring, access, programming and data collection.

Many people diagnosed with HIV cannot continue treatment. According to Immunify.Lifestyle, the number of “failures” by patients can be up to 40% in some areas. This includes pregnant women who can pass the virus on to their baby during childbirth.