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TOPIC 1

Healthcare & Wellbeing

The sudden arrival and sheer scale of the coronavirus is creating health issues that can impact anyone and everyone. Hospitals and medical facilities around the world are filling up and overflowing. Medical professionals are working around the clock and relying on voluntary and even previously retired colleagues to help keep the system running.  Healthcare professionals around the world are identifying many different challenges that need to be addressed. These types of challenges will need expert consultation with people in the medical industry during and after the solution phase.

The suddenness of quarantine, self isolation, social distancing, lockdown, job losses, financial worries, children that need 24/7 attention, sick and dying friends and relatives, are all creating new challenges for the general public. What problems are out there that we can provide solutions to, without needing to heavily involve the medical community.

Challenges

  1. How can the future number of patients be determined per country? (Challenge owner: ALSTOM)
    Although it is impossible to accurately calculate this number, predictions can be made. Outcome of this challenge could be a mathematical model showing the number of patients per day and per country. For this challenge the following specialities are needed: 1. Medicine; 2. Mathematics; 3. AI
  2. How might we build a pandemic response ecosystem, that enables mass adoption of a privacy-by-design virus tracking protocol based on self-sovereign-interactions, allowing society to re-open the economy in the most safe and responsible way?
    This challenge is about leveraging, implementing and adopting the PrivateTracer (formerly ChaINfest) protocol, which is currently under development. All relevant background information on the protocol itself you can find in this Technical Design Version 0.5.Four concrete hacking challenges this weekend:
    1. How can mass scale adoption be achieved?
    2. What is the best and most scalable way to give feedback to end users?
    3. How do I bring reputation into the system, so I can trust the information (‘This person has a Corona-infection’)?
    4. How do we translate micro-private data around interactions into macro data that can be used to carry out society level analysis?

    The full challenge, its context, potential impact and the opportunities to get engaged are on: https://www.odyssey.org/pandemic-response-ecosystem/

    This partner ecosystem is attached to the challenge:

    • Milvum
    • Dutch Ministry of the Interior (advisory role)
    • PrivateTracer
    • City of the Hague
    • Odyssey
    • YES! Delft
  3. How can training and fast track education protocols be implemented for doctors that suddenly have to change their field of specialization, or have to work with old-fashioned tools?
    For example, this is relevant in cases when retired individuals are being pulled back in hospitals or last year medical students pulled in early to increase capacity.
  4. How can we use the self-reported information about the symptoms of the virus to effectively monitor the situation and take action? (Challenge owner: Coronastatus.nl)
    Coronastatus.nl also has an API that the hackers could use; also: https://www.healthcast.nl/?ref=producthunt. Also, the resource https://github.com/BustByte/coronastatus  can be used: it has a number of issues where individuals can help out and also includes a link to a telegram group with other people that work on the website that are available over the weekend.
  5. How can elderly citizens communicate easily and reminisce with their loved ones at a safe distance during the crisis?(Challenge owner: Patyna)
    This solution should be a place where the elderly can express their feelings and feel heard. It is important that the elderly can carry out the idea independently, which means that eldercare employees have to invest a minimum of time. Moreover, the idea should be suitable for a large group of elderly people with different cognitive levels and their loved ones.
  6. How can we upgrade the air purification systems for closed environments like hospitals, where the virus is highly concentrated and can spread through ventilation, AC and medical material transported across departments? And how do we provide the bio-protection equipment for doctors and medical staff that are working around the clock with risks of infecting their families/relatives?
  7. What methods/devices can help relieve the psychological stress that doctors and sanitary staff at hospitals are dealing with due to deaths and fears to get infected or infect their families?
  8. How can we determine the number of medical supplies needed per patient? (Challenge owner: ALSTOM)
    The manufacturers would have to have an idea on how many medical supplies are needed. Therefore, the outcome of this part would be a description of the number of medical supplies per country. For this challenge the following specialities are needed: 1. Medicine; 2. Mathematics, 3. AI
  9. How can we develop a respiratory regulator that limits the pressure on IC staff, can be produced quickly and protects the patient’s lungs?
    Current respirators operate based on a predetermined amount of air. However, if the lungs fill up with fluid, there is a risk of damage to the lungs. There is then relatively less space available in the lung. As a result, the settings of current respirators must be continuously adjusted. If this is done too late or not properly, the patient’s lungs will be damaged. How can such adjustments take place without the strong involvement of doctors and medical staff?
  10. What tools can be used to maintain privacy in the healthcare field, in cases when patients have to share their private information when using applications or websites for tracking or reporting their symptoms?
    Moreover, privacy is important if medical professionals are sharing sensitive information about, for instance, lab results via platforms such as Skype.
    It is also the case that medical professionals are using a diversity of platforms (MS groups, Skype for business, etc)  for communication and this causes both confusion and privacy concerns. How can this be solved?
  11. How can better communication be established among hospitales when moving a patient from one hospital to another?
    This is important since the IC’s have more people (1) and with the same symptoms, demographics and status (2), persons will be moved to other hospitals, good communication is essential.
  12. How do we deal with the shortage of raw materials to produce medications?
  13. How can you distribute protective equipment in hospitals and in the country as fairly as possible? This challenge focuses on distributions of materials such as masks and gloves, and they could be needed by different medical professionals.
  14. How can we trace the possible deficits of medical supplies by providing up-to-date details about the needs of hospitals?
  15. How to create an effective way of communication for the full population in order to reduce fear and increase knowledge about the situation?
  16. Can we create a buddy system for all people currently living in isolation in order to avoid loneliness and to monitor physical and mental symptoms?

3 — 5 APRIL

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