The Surprising Effects of Big Data in Global Health [VIDEO]

The biggest problem in global health is that the data they are looking for is not available. It is unknown which clinics in the developing world have which and how many medicines. It is unknown how many children were born or died in Bolivia, Botswana or Butan. It is unknown what the needs of the elderly are, basically they know nothing because the IT systems to find the data is based on paper and writing, data that is not stored in computers or in the cloud. Most of the research still happens by knocking on doors in many far-out villages.

The biggest problem in global health is that the data they are looking for is not available. It is unknown which clinics in the developing world have which and how many medicines. It is unknown how many children were born or died in Bolivia, Botswana or Butan. It is unknown what the needs of the elderly are, basically they know nothing because the IT systems to find the data is based on paper and writing, data that is not stored in computers or in the cloud. Most of the research still happens by knocking on doors in many far-out villages. With the new technology becoming available, this is changing rapidly. Joe Selanikio discusses the surprising seeds big data causes in global health.