Tag: systems

Revealed: Countries With The Best Health Care Systems, 2023

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Revealed: Countries With The Best Health Care Systems, 2023

Taiwan has the best healthcare system in the world, according to the 2023 edition of the CEOWORLD magazine Health Care Index, which ranks 110 countries according to factors that contribute to overall health.

Two additional Asian nations were among the top 10 in 2023: South Korea (second place) and Israel (tenth). As for European countries, they occupy FIVE of the top TEN spots in this year’s ranking: Sweden (5th place), Ireland(6th place),  the Netherlands (7th), Germany (8th),  and Norway 9th place.

Of the 110 countries surveyed, Taiwan’s healthcare comes in 1st place on the list, scoring 78.72 out of 100 on the Health Care Index. At the opposite end of the spectrum, with a score of 18.6, El Salvador tops the list of the countries with the worst healthcare systems for 2023.

The Health Care Index is a statistical analysis of the overall quality of the healthcare system, including healthcare infrastructure; healthcare professionals (doctors, nursing staff, and other health workers) competencies; cost (USD per capita); quality medicine availability, and government readiness. It also takes into consideration other factors including, environmental, access to clean water, sanitation, and government readiness to impose penalties on risks such as tobacco use and obesity. The ranking looks at 110 countries around the world on five different health variables.

Revealed: Countries With The Best Health Care Systems, 2023

Rank Country Medical Infrastructure and Professionals Medicine Availability and Cost Government Readiness Health Care Index (Overall)
1 Taiwan 87.16 83.59 82.3 78.72
2 South Korea 79.05 78.39 78.99 77.7
3 Australia 90.75 82.59 92.06 74.11
4 Canada 86.18 78.99 88.23 71.32
5 Sweden 78.77 74.88 74.18 70.73
6 Ireland 92.58 96.22 67.51 67.99
7 Netherlands 77.86 71.82 55.1 65.38
8 Germany 86.28 75.81 83.82 64.66
9 Norway 72.48 68.68 64.78 64.63
10 Israel 88.63 75.61 90.25 61.73
11 Belgium 79.09 69.93 67.29 60.16
12 Switzerland 77.76 68.97 59.65 59.6
13 Japan 98.7 94.99 98.74 59.52
14 Singapore 76.39 67.47 71.33 57.96
15 United States 79.73 68.59 75.73 56.71
16 Austria 86.58 71.23 73.86 54.86
17 United Arab Emirates 78.93 66.04 60.94 52.3
18 Czech Republic 77.77 65.42 69.68 52.25
19 Finland 74.2 63.51 97.84 52.1
20 Portugal 68.21 60.36 55.08 51.99
21 New Zealand 73.53 62.22 74.19 50.15
22 Italy 98.3 75.25 83.54 49.58
23 Hong Kong 62.39 55.73 52.91 48.64
24 Denmark 82.67 66.15 81.98 48.54
25 France 69.37 59.16 66.11 48.27
26 Spain 96.87 86.79 98.21 48.13
27 United Kingdom 78.03 63.08 75.19 47.15
28 Greece 70.06 58.53 62.6 46.24
29 India 75.2 60.99 66.54 45.84
30 Luxembourg 84.18 65.52 76.28 45.62
31 Croatia 83.43 64.98 85.77 45.3
32 Lithuania 71.12 58.62 64.48 45.3
33 Slovenia 67.54 56.77 60.69 45.29
34 Estonia 64.17 54.94 52.11 45.1
35 Cyprus 78.39 62.1 74.03 44.72
36 Iceland 98.1 66.02 64.34 44.55
37 Saudi Arabia 83.38 87.03 98.43 44.43
38 Brazil 85.38 64.9 72.19 43.06
39 Indonesia 64.37 54.02 55.79 42.99
40 Latvia 71.54 57.69 53.28 42.92
41 Bulgaria 65.97 54.61 47.94 42.5
42 Russia 88.12 72.84 91.25 42.31
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Synthetic Intelligence in Overall health Treatment: Positive aspects and Issues of Equipment Understanding Systems for Health care Diagnostics

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Synthetic Intelligence in Overall health Treatment: Positive aspects and Issues of Equipment Understanding Systems for Health care Diagnostics

What GAO Identified

Quite a few device discovering (ML) systems are out there in the U.S. to guide with the diagnostic approach. The ensuing gains include previously detection of health conditions additional regular assessment of health care data and amplified entry to treatment, significantly for underserved populations. GAO determined a selection of ML-primarily based systems for 5 selected disorders — specific cancers, diabetic retinopathy, Alzheimer’s sickness, coronary heart ailment, and COVID-19 —with most systems relying on info from imaging these kinds of as x-rays or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Nevertheless, these ML systems have frequently not been extensively adopted.

Academic, authorities, and non-public sector scientists are performing to expand the abilities of ML-primarily based health care diagnostic technologies. In addition, GAO discovered 3 broader rising approaches—autonomous, adaptive, and consumer-oriented ML-diagnostics—that can be utilized to diagnose a range of health conditions. These innovations could enrich health care professionals’ abilities and improve client remedies but also have specific limitations. For case in point, adaptive systems may well boost precision by incorporating more details to update themselves, but automated incorporation of minimal-excellent knowledge could guide to inconsistent or poorer algorithmic performance.

Spectrum of adaptive algorithms

We recognized many problems impacting the enhancement and adoption of ML in professional medical diagnostics:

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  • Demonstrating genuine-planet efficiency across assorted medical options and in rigorous studies.

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  • Conference clinical demands, this sort of as developing systems that combine into medical workflows.

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  • Addressing regulatory gaps, this kind of as offering distinct assistance for the progress of adaptive algorithms.

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These troubles have an effect on numerous stakeholders like engineering developers, professional medical companies, and patients, and might gradual the growth and adoption of these systems.

GAO formulated a few plan selections that could enable handle these issues or enrich the added benefits of ML diagnostic systems. These coverage possibilities detect possible steps by policymakers, which contain Congress, federal companies, state and nearby governments, tutorial and investigate institutions, and industry. See beneath for a summary of the coverage alternatives and appropriate possibilities and considerations.

Plan Possibilities to Support Deal with Worries or Enhance Rewards of ML Diagnostic Technologies

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  Possibilities Things to consider
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Policymakers could develop incentives, direction, or policies to encourage or call for the evaluation of ML diagnostic technologies throughout a array of deployment conditions and demographics representative of the supposed use.

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This policy choice could aid tackle the obstacle of demonstrating real globe performance.

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  • Stakeholders could greater realize the efficiency of these technologies throughout assorted situations and enable to discover biases, limitations, and opportunities for enhancement.

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  • Could advise providers’ adoption decisions, likely main to increased adoption by improving belief.

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  • Info from evaluations can help tell the conclusions of policymakers, this sort of as decisions about regulatory necessities.

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  • May perhaps be time-intense, which could delay the motion of these systems into the market, potentially affecting individuals and
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Birth control access can be limited in places with Catholic health systems : Shots

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Birth control access can be limited in places with Catholic health systems : Shots

Catholic health care systems can limit access to birth control.

Rich Pedroncelli/AP


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Rich Pedroncelli/AP

Catholic health care systems can limit access to birth control.

Rich Pedroncelli/AP

Last week, students returning to campus at Oberlin College in Ohio got a shock: A local news outlet reported that the campus’ student health services would severely limit who could get contraception prescriptions. They would only be given to treat health problems — not for the purpose of preventing pregnancy — and emergency contraception would only be available to victims of sexual assault.

It turned out the college had outsourced its student health services to a Catholic health agency – and like other Catholic health institutions, it follows religious directives that prohibit contraception to prevent pregnancy. They also prohibit gender-affirming care.

“I would characterize the student’s reaction as outrage,” says Remsen Welsh, a fourth-year Oberlin student and co-director of the student-run Sexual Information Center on campus. “A lot of people in my circles were sending [the news story] around like, what is happening?”

Although the college quickly came up with a new plan to offer reproductive health services to students on campus, the incident at Oberlin shows the wide reach of Catholic health care in the U.S., and how the rules these institutions follow can limit access to contraception.

Now that many states – including Ohio – have adopted restrictions or outright bans on abortion, that’s also raised the stakes for contraception access.

Religious restrictions affect many health care settings

Issued by the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops, the Ethical and Religious Directives that guide Catholic health care systems “prohibit a broad swath of reproductive care,” including birth control pills, IUDs, tubal ligation and vasectomies, says Dr. Debra Stulberg, a professor of family medicine at the University of Chicago who has researched how these directives play out in health care.

Catholic hospitals have long been a mainstay of health care in America. And these days, the directives apply to a wide range of settings where people seek reproductive health care – including urgent care centers, doctors’ offices and outpatient surgery centers that have been bought by or merged with Catholic health systems.

They can also apply when Catholic health agencies are hired to manage health care services for other institutions, which is what happened at Oberlin.

Four of the 10 largest health care systems in the country are Catholic, according to a 2020 report. In some counties, they dominate the market. In 52 communities, the report found, a Catholic hospital is the only one around within a 45-minute drive.

“After all this consolidation, this is where it shakes out, where we’ve got about 40% of reproductive age women living in areas with high or dominant Catholic hospital market share,” says Marian Jarlenski, a health policy researcher at the University of Pittsburgh, who examined the data in 2020.

‘Not transparent at all’

Patients often aren’t aware that these restrictions might affect the care they get, says Lois Uttley,

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Tonnes of COVID-19 overall health care waste expose urgent want to strengthen waste management systems

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Tonnes of COVID-19 overall health care waste expose urgent want to strengthen waste management systems

Tens of countless numbers of tonnes of further healthcare squander from the response to the COVID-19 pandemic has set remarkable strain on health care waste administration methods about the globe, threatening human and environmental wellbeing and exposing a dire require to boost squander administration procedures, in accordance to a new WHO report.

The WHO World investigation of health and fitness treatment waste in the context of COVID-19: position, impacts and tips bases its estimates on the roughly 87,000 tonnes of private protecting products (PPE) that was procured in between March 2020- November 2021 and delivered to guidance countries’ urgent COVID-19 reaction requirements by way of a joint UN emergency initiative. Most of this gear is envisioned to have finished up as squander.

The authors observe that this just delivers an original indication of the scale of the COVID-19 squander problem. It does not acquire into account any of the COVID-19 commodities procured exterior of the initiative, nor waste produced by the general public like disposable clinical masks.

They level out that in excess of 140 million take a look at kits, with a possible to create 2,600 tonnes of non-infectious squander (primarily plastic) and 731,000 litres of chemical waste (equivalent to one particular-3rd of an Olympic-dimensions swimming pool) have been delivered, though around 8 billion doses of vaccine have been administered globally producing 144,000 tonnes of more waste in the sort of syringes, needles, and safety boxes.

As the UN and nations grappled with the immediate process of securing and good quality-assuring provides of PPE, less focus and sources were devoted to the risk-free and sustainable administration of COVID-19 connected well being care squander.

“It is completely vital to deliver well being personnel with the proper PPE, “said Dr Michael Ryan, Govt Director, WHO Wellbeing Emergencies Programme. “But it is also critical to ensure that it can be utilized safely and securely with no impacting on the bordering environment.”

This implies obtaining successful administration units in location, including steerage for wellness workers on what to do with PPE and wellness commodities following they have been employed.

Right now, 30% of healthcare services (60% in the least developed nations) are not equipped to cope with current waste hundreds, permit alone the additional COVID-19 load. This perhaps exposes health personnel to needle adhere injuries, burns and pathogenic microorganisms, although also impacting communities dwelling near inadequately managed landfills and squander disposal web-sites as a result of contaminated air from burning waste, inadequate water top quality or ailment carrying pests.

“COVID-19 has pressured the environment to reckon with the gaps and neglected features of the squander stream and how we deliver, use and discard of our wellbeing care methods, from cradle to grave,” claimed Dr Maria Neira, Director, Surroundings, Local weather Adjust and Overall health at WHO.

“Significant alter at all degrees, from the global to the hospital flooring, in how we handle the wellbeing care squander stream is a fundamental prerequisite of local weather-intelligent health and fitness care devices, which many nations around

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