OneWellness Launches App to Address Medication Adherence among Patients
Emma Okonji
OneWellness, a platform that provides holistic approach to healthcare management, has leveraged technology to provide improved healthcare services to thousands of patients, through the launch of a mobile app that will address medication adherence among patients and also allow members of the platform to have access to improved health services.
According to recent statistics, 70 per cent of global deaths are caused by non-communicable diseases and 75 per cent of the deaths come from low and middle-income countries like Nigeria. Based on the statistics, OneWellness had since realised that not enough attention is being paid to complications that could arise from non-communicable diseases, and concluded that medication adherence could be a primary determinant of treatment success.
Speaking at the launch of the app in Lagos recently, the CEO of OneWellness, Adeola Alli, a Pharmacist, said: “OneWellness provides a holistic approach to healthcare management, via vetted methodology like Access, Adherence and Accountability (3As). With the App, members of the platform are assigned a dedicated human-led care partner who oversees their overall health and manages their medications, treatment and recovery with less dependency on families and hospitals.”
Developed in-house, and guided by dedicated care partner available via chat, call or video, the app helps to manage each patient’s medications, send medicine reminders, coordinates refills and renewals, tracks vitals and reports discrepancies, consult doctors and specialists instantly, via chat, call or video.
The OneWellness App also enables real-time notifications and an online dashboard, from where patients can control their medications.
With the theme: ‘Therapeutic Management and Adherence; The Role Technology Plays in Improving Healthcare Outcomes,’ the organisers of the event, had two panel sessions that discussed: ‘Non-Adherence to Drug Regiment-The Cross Disciplinary Approach to Addressing It,’ and ‘How Technology Can Improve Medication Access and Treatment Adherence.’
Both panel sessions, made up of key industry leaders and partners, discussed the best practices to support inclusive healthcare and therapeutic management, while creating an avenue for cross-collaboration and partnerships.
In the first panel session, the Managing Director of Victory Drugs, Folashade Olufunke Lawal, who explained why most patients do not adhere to drugs and medications, attributed it to forgetfulness, repetition of same drugs, as well as religious inclination. According to her, most patients forget the prescriptions on how to take their drugs, especially when the drugs are much and must be taken at different intervals, while some refuses to take drugs, especially after taken such drugs for some weeks and months, believing they could get healing from their creator. She however said the app would address all of that.
At the second panel session, the panelists decried a situation where patients are not leveraging technology to better their health challenges. According to them, patients can leverage technology to have access to medication, discover counterfeit or expired drugs and to have the best pricing for their drugs. The panelists also discussed how technology has improved healthcare, through telemedicine, whereby a doctor can attend to several patients, without the stress of the patients to book an appointment and to travel to see a doctor.
“Today, doctors can see more patients from therapeutic management and technology has made the desired healthcare outcomes not only measurable, but also achievable,” members of the second panel said.
