Telehealth and 'collapse of healthcare systems' in Latin America

Donna Cusano

Pointer to the future in Latin America? Telefónica’s eHealth leaders for the region, Fernando Cortiñas and Raúl Urrutigoity, in this interview with E-Health Reporter/Latin America (published in partnership with HIMSS), discuss the paradox of a longer lived population (because of better health conditions) accelerating the collapse of the healthcare system by the increase in chronic disease, and as part of the solution, developing eHealth in hospitals and home. It includes a PDF of their presentation, Towards a connected health; the challenge of Venezuela (in Spanish). No small matter: 2/3 of the deaths in Latin America and the Caribbean are due to chronic disease, and 88% of those over 65 have one or more.