Our recent trip to Bali for this year’s Union conference was nothing short of exhilarating. Not only did we meet thousands of lung health experts from around the globe, but we also had the privilege of hosting our own exclusive side-event. This special gathering provided an invaluable opportunity to connect with our international clients and partners, who enthusiastically shared their experiences with our Epi-control platform – before our delicious dinner.
Transformative AI in action
Set against the tranquil backdrop of the Nusa Dua hills, our event at the REVĪVŌ Wellness Resort offered the ideal setting to showcase the diverse array of projects we’re spearheading across the globe.
One of the highlights of the evening was a video message from Dr. Abiola Risikat Alege, Senior Program Manager at the Society for Family Health. She spoke passionately about EPCON’s transformative role in finding TB cases in Nigeria – a country with one of the highest TB burdens globally and the highest in Africa.
“We reached out to EPCON to find innovative ways to employ artificial intelligence to reach missing TB cases,” she shared. “We didn’t have a lot of data, so we needed a solution that had the predictive potential to target missing cases effectively. The impact of the model went beyond the 12,000 TB diagnoses we’ve made; it extended to families to whom we could provide TB preventive treatment to halt the spread. We’ve been able to use our limited resources to achieve maximum outreach.
Echoing these sentiments, Dr Sipho Nyathi, Director of Health Programmes at Aquity Innovations, shared his positive experience with the Epi-control Panel.
“The spatial analysis has been extremely powerful,” he noted. “We found over 1,300 patients in one year using about twenty community healthcare workers. To put that in perspective, we identified as many patients in the community as you would typically find in a health facility. This means we can reduce the spread of disease. Both public health organisations and government institutions would greatly benefit from this platform.”
Global collaborations and insights
Other notable speakers who shared their experiences included:
Professor Annelies Van Rie from the University of Antwerp’s Department of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, who discussed collaborating with our MAGMA MICK project, an initiation involving precision medicine to enhance TB control.
Dr Kobto Koura, Director of the Department of Tuberculosis for The Union, who highlighted our work in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, where we’ve been instrumental in finding TB hotspots in areas with scarce data.
Dr Adeel Tahir, Director of the Mercy Corps TB programme, a key partner in our Pakistan project, where we’ve played a game-changing role in reducing TB burden by redesigning data collection and analysis methods.
As the evening drew to a close, we were overwhelmed by the positive feedback and delighted by the additional attendees who joined us, some travelling from as far as Uganda. It’s clear that our platform has substantially improved many aspects of public health decision-making, and we couldn’t be prouder!