'Asthma Excellence Mobile Application' is a digital innovation developed to improve asthma care in Thailand. The application was developed from the "Healthcare Through Innovation" project under the concept "Scaling Healthcare Through Innovation". It is the first project under the memorandum of understanding on "Supporting and Promoting Healthcare Technology Development in Thailand" signed between the Digital Economy Promotion Agency (depa) and Healthy Lung programme by AstraZeneca Thailand for the benefit of the Thoracic Society of Thailand under Royal Patronage to promote a better coordinated and more efficient asthma care in Thailand.
The official launch of 'Asthma Excellence Mobile Application' was attended by Dr Nitipat Jiarakul, Director of the Thoracic Society of Thailand under Royal Patronage, Kasama Kongsmak, Executive Vice President (Digital Policy and Security) of Digital Economy Promotion Agency (depa) and James Teague, Country President of AstraZeneca (Thailand) Company Limited.
Dr Nitipat Jiarakul, Director of the Thoracic Society of Thailand under Royal Patronage, said: " The COVID-19 pandemic has been a health crisis affecting people across the globe for more than two years. During this outbreak, we at Thoracic Society of Thailand under the Royal Patronage have worked more proactively to help support patients with respiratory diseases at higher risk of severe COVID-19 symptoms. Asthma is a non-communicable disease and can be controlled; however, asthma patients with COVID-19 infection have a high risk of death as the virus directly damages the respiratory tract. Better precise and time-sensitive treatments are critical to avoid any loss. Developed to be a database of comprehensive asthma treatment information of international standard, 'Asthma Excellence Mobile Application will be very helpful for medical professionals in providing better asthma care. It is particularly in line with the mission of the Thoracic Society of Thailand under Royal Patronage committed to enhancing medical knowledge for the greatest efficiency of respiratory patient care."
Kasama Kongsmak, Executive Vice President (Digital Policy and Security) of Digital Economy Promotion Agency (depa), said: "As an active supporter of the development of digital industries and significant digital innovation in the country, we are pleased to collaborate and see positive results of digital technology adoption in public health services in Thailand. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on "Supporting and Promoting Healthcare Technology Development in Thailand" that depa signed with AstraZeneca in April 2021 is in line with the depa mission to support and promote the development of digital industries and innovations in Thailand. The adoption of digital technology is to facilitate public health services and expand the accessibility of medical care for Thais. This collaboration led to the start-up pitching contest to secure funds for a mobile application development to help improve asthma care under the concept of "Scaling Healthcare Through Innovation". The winner, ASEC Frontier (Thailand) Company Limited, a digital start-up company, developed Asthma Excellence Mobile Application funded by AstraZeneca (Thailand) Company Limited."
James Teague, Country President, AstraZeneca (Thailand) Ltd., said: "Asthma is one of the critical health threats in Thailand. According to worldlifeexpectancy.com1, 3.43 out of 100,000 people in Thailand had lost their lives to Asthma, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients may have multiple impacts on the diagnosis and treatment of respiratory diseases. As a main sponsor of Asthma Excellence Mobile Application, AstraZeneca Thailand realises the importance and benefits of digital technology in enhancing patient access to medicines and treatments. Thus, we support and push forward 'Digital Health' through the convergence of healthcare technology, data, and analytics to drive public healthcare services to the new sustainability standard. Asthma Excellence Mobile Application is one of the milestones we are proud of. AstraZeneca Thailand will continue to collaborate with public health authorities, public and private partners to bring digital technology and innovation that can better build, support and reinforce medical services to achieve the common goal, which is to improve the quality of life for the people of Thailand."
'Asthma Excellence Mobile Application' is an application developed to enhance the efficiency of asthma care with a complete and comprehensive database, from diagnosis and treatment to post-treatment. For improved asthma care, the application offers valuable data and information about diagnosis guidelines, risk assessment and control, treatment and medication guidelines, and patient monitoring, to mention a few. The application is now available for medical professionals on App Store for iOS and Google Play Store.