A groundbreaking five-year study will be launched in Kenya by the end of this year to examine whether crypto token incentives can improve the health outcomes of HIV patients.
On Nov. 1, blockchain-based medical ecosystem Immunify.Life and the Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (MMUST) announced that they have received approval from the ethics committee and national committee needed to launch the study.
Together, they will conduct a five-year HIV/AIDS study in Kakamega County, Kenya, by the end of 2021, before expanding the study to other parts of the country.
The first major project of the collaboration is a groundbreaking study on HIV/AIDS to investigate the impact of incentives and paperless tracking systems on HIV treatment adherence and treatment outcomes in low socioeconomic settings in Kenya effectiveness.
-Immunify. Life (@ImmunifyLife) December 1, 2021
MMUST will use Immunify.Life's blockchain technology to collect and analyze patient data to help improve HIV treatment outcomes. It will assess whether token rewards for health-positive behaviors identified by project sponsors, such as NGOs and government agencies, lead to better outcomes for patients.
Immunify.Life CEO Guy Newing told Cointelegraph:
“The project we are testing will provide token rewards to encourage lapsed patients to come to the clinic for treatment.”
Patients and doctors will be rewarded with IMM, Immunify.Life's native ERC-20 token. These, he added, could be given to people who "completed a prescribed course of TB antibiotics" and would incentivize "AIDS patients to return to the clinic regularly for testing and treatment".
Healthcare workers will also be rewarded for positive behavior, such as "filling out consultation notes correctly, getting a certain number of TB tests or completing medical education," Newing said.
Every patient using the platform is issued a non-fungible (NFT) health ID that captures critical medical data such as vaccination records. This data is then transmitted to a digital registry to provide medical professionals with remote medical supervision and real-time data access.
The sample size of the study was 600 patients. Half of them will receive token rewards, and the other half will serve as a control that will not receive token rewards. Patients will be monitored over 6 months with monthly active treatment and monitoring.
The study will also track the effects of using a paperless medical tracking system in areas of low socioeconomic status.
Source: Immunify.Life
"Critical medical and treatment data is available in real time, time-stamped and secured; it cannot be hacked or altered," Newing said. The platform will initially use Polygon, a second-layer solution on Ethereum, with long-term plans to is a bridge to Cardano.
Patients will also benefit financially from the sale of anonymized medical data, in addition to token rewards provided by sponsors. Immunify.Life is currently conducting a private round with strategic and institutional investors before planning an initial DEX offering (IDO) in early 2022.
"Patients will be empowered to control their own data and share in the financial rewards. The system is funded by fees charged to organizations that fund and deliver healthcare."
In addition to its HIV work in Kenya, Immunify.Life is applying its blockchain technology to two other therapeutic areas, COVID-19 and opioid addiction.
According to a 2020 UNAIDS report, there are approximately 1.5 million people living with HIV in Kenya. While 70% of patients receive treatment, there are currently difficulties with tracking, access, programming, and data collection.
Many people diagnosed with HIV are unable to continue treatment. According to Immunify.Life, in some regions, the number of "failed" patients can be as high as 40%. These include pregnant women, who pass the virus on to their children during childbirth.
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