Bridge, Bioscan and Imagina Meta Empowerment were the three projects selected this Tuesday in the first call for Visionarium supported by Gilead and Esade. An almost nine-month journey that ended with the selection of these three innovative proposals, which will receive €60,000 from a biopharmaceutical company and a mentoring program from Esade to advance the development of the work.
This first edition was divided into three categories that “perfectly summarize the areas we have always set ourselves and are also the challenges proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO)”, says Pau Arbós, Director of the HIV Business Unit. Gilead Spain. “Until we end stigma, we will not end HIV,” adds Jorge Garrido, executive director of Apoyo Positivo.
One of the categories deals precisely with the demolition of this inscription. Through the application born from Bellvitge, Vall D’Hebron and Barcelona Clinic hospitals, patients can access HIV tests anonymously, safely and intuitively. With this project, the organizers, together with Digimevo, which participated in the development of the application, and with the NGO Stop AIDS, hope to increase HIV diagnostic tests in an “environment of comfort and intimacy”, explain the promoters of the project.
“We have a very important problem in the world, which is diagnosis,” says Jesús Troya, a specialist in internal medicine at the Infanta Leonor University Hospital. According to data from the Health Institute of Carlos III. the number of undiagnosed people with HIV has decreased by almost half (-42.3%) over the past four years: from 13% to 7.5%. Currently, 92.5% of people living with HIV in our country know their infection diagnosis and 96.6% are undergoing antiretroviral treatment. “However, 50% of the diagnoses are late, and they arrive at the consultation with a compromised immune system,” adds the doctor and member of the jury of the first year of the Visionária.
After coming for a consultation, the patient faces stigma as well as treatment. “We are lucky that there are many treatment options and the virus can be controlled,” says Adriá Curran, a specialist in the infectious disease service at Vall d’Hebron Hospital. “Quality of life is essential. This is the focus of the winning project Imagina Meta Empowerment, which was awarded in the category of quality care for the design of creation in the metaverse, “which is the first space in this environment dedicated to the empowerment and knowledge of people living with HIV”. -highlighted by the jury-, from ImaginaMÁS. The commitment of the non-governmental organization that gave its name to this project and on which Telefónica and the San Carlos Clinical Hospital collaborate, which was created with the aim of strengthening the role of active patients informed about their health. “Improving their quality of life is essential and above all taking care of the derived pathologies that appear with age.”
This is the leitmotif of the last of the projects selected in the first edition of Visionário. Under the name BioScan, doctors from Ramón y Cajal Hospital and the NGO Apoyo Positivo have created a diagnostic tool to improve the identification of anal precancerous lesions, a serious disease with a high incidence in people with HIV. Work based on knowledge gained about the role of the microbiome in the previous phase of research.
Mentoring program
After being selected from a pool of 24 projects that responded to the three challenges posed by the Visionarium Organizing Committee, HIV prevention, diagnosis and referral; a person with HIV; and quality of care, the three winning initiatives will receive €60,000 to develop the proposal and “will have a one-year mentoring program with us,” says Manel Peiró, director of the Institute for Healthcare Management at EsadeGov and director of the Executive Master in the Directorate of Health Organizations at Esade (EMDOS) . “Many times they become obsessed with the project and someone from the outside has to help them and advise them on how to proceed,” he explains.
“Initiatives like this are essential for innovation and the development of solutions in the fight against HIV,” says Cristóbal Belda, director of the Carlos III Health Institute. “The positive thing about this program is that we have created a network of contacts in which we will continue to work and with new projects,” adds Troya.
The selection of these projects was carried out by a committee of external experts, which included: Mercedes Balcells-Camps, researcher at MIT in Massachusetts and co-founder and director of the MIT-Spain program, who chairs the committee; Candela Calle, General Manager of the Sant Francesc d’Assis Foundation and Board Member of the Spanish Society of Health Directors (Sedisa); Manel Peiró, director of the Institute for Healthcare Management at EsadeGov and director of the Executive Master in Management of Healthcare Organizations (EMDOS) at Esade; Jorge Garrido, director of Positive Support and expert in the management and leadership of patient associations; Adriá Curran, Specialist Physician in the Infectious Service at Vall d’Hebron Hospital; and Jesús Troya, specialist in internal medicine from the Infanta Leonor University Hospital.
