Latest news with #saúde
Zawya
4 days ago
- Business
- Zawya
Cabo Verde invests in improving the quality of care for the elderly
Ana Rita's life has improved since she started attending regular appointments at the local health unit in Assomada, on the island of Santiago. She is returning to normal life after a stroke she suffered during the covid-19 pandemic and is benefiting significantly from the country's efforts to improve care for the elderly. 'I feel welcomed at this center, where we have our own room and the attention and care we receive here has a big impact on our health,' says Ana Rita. Cape Verde's health and socio-economic progress in recent decades has had a significant and positive impact on life expectancy, which in 2020 was 75 years old. This has been increasing consistently over the last few decades, bringing with it challenges for the health system. The population aged over 60 is increasing - from 7.6% in 2010 to 10.0% in 2021. This population represents a growing proportion of the burden of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), which cause around 60% of all deaths in the country. The strategic plan for active ageing and the health of older people, horizon 2024-2028, aims to improve the health and well-being of older people by preventing, protecting and reducing dependency on care and promoting dignity of life, with community involvement, strengthening the capacities of the workforce and legislative and regulatory improvements. 'The leadership of WHO Cabo Verde has been fundamental in the implementation of the ICOPE strategy, through technical support in the adaptation and adoption of the guidelines and the development and updating of policies and plans aimed at integrated and continuous care throughout life,' says Edith Pereira, acting head of WHO Cabo Verde Since the beginning of 2022, experts from the World Health Organization at headquarters and the regional office have been working with the Ministry of Health to develop this strategy based on evidence and needs to improve the health and well-being of the country's elderly. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of World Health Organization (WHO) - Cabo Verde.
National Post
5 days ago
- Business
- National Post
Intuitive Care Partners with Arcadea Group
Article content SAO PAULO & TORONTO — Arcadea Group, a preeminent, long-term investor in global software businesses, today announced its acquisition of Intuitive Care, a leading revenue cycle management provider for the Brazilian healthcare industry. This partnership marks a significant milestone in Intuitive Care's growth journey, positioning the company for long-term success while maintaining its commitment to innovation and excellence in healthcare financial operations. Article content Article content Intuitive Care, recognized for its comprehensive suite of financial cycle solutions that streamline billing, collections, and revenue optimization for hospitals, clinics, and specialty practices, will continue to operate under the leadership of its co-founders. CEO Paulo Liete Pinto and CTO Luis Neto, along with the rest of Intuitive Care's senior team, will remain at the helm, driving product development and client success in close partnership with Arcadea. Article content Daniel Eisen, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Arcadea Group, shared the following: 'We are thrilled to partner with Intuitive Care and its outstanding leadership team under the direction of Paulo and Luis. With our deep expertise in scaling high-quality software businesses and our long-term investment philosophy, we are fully committed to supporting Intuitive Care's ambitious growth plans and helping accelerate its mission to optimize healthcare revenue operations in Brazil.' Article content Paulo Liete Pinto, CEO and Co-Founder of Intuitive Care, added: 'Arcadea's long-term approach and proven track record in partnering with market-leading software companies made them the ideal investor for our next chapter. We look forward to leveraging their resources and strategic guidance to expand our platform's capabilities and extend our reach across the Brazilian healthcare ecosystem.' Article content Luis Neto, CTO and Co-Founder of Intuitive Care, commented: 'We're excited about the technical support and domain expertise that Arcadea brings. Their partnership will enable us to accelerate our product roadmap, enhance our platform's scalability, and deliver even greater value to our clients through advanced analytics and automation.' Article content Together, Intuitive Care and Arcadea aim to reinforce Intuitive Care's position as Brazil's premier financial cycle software provider, delivering world-class solutions that drive efficiency, transparency, and financial performance across the healthcare sector. Article content This is Arcadea's second investment in the Brazilian healthcare space, following its 2024 strategic investment in Animati, a leading provider of radiology practice management solutions. Article content About Arcadea Group Article content Arcadea Group invests in high-quality, strongly-growing software companies over extremely long durations. Based in Toronto and Orlando and investing globally, Arcadea leverages its significant permanent capital base to focus exclusively on businesses with long-term potential and ambitions. Article content Founded in 2017, Intuitive Care is a leading health tech company in Brazil, transforming revenue cycle operations for dozens of healthcare providers. Through unprecedented automation, its platform digitizes interactions with 300+ payers—including eligibility checks, billing, reconciliation, and denial management—enabling providers to mitigate losses and recover revenue. Intuitive Care has already facilitated the recovery of over US$500 million in claims and processes via its proprietary iC-OS system. The platform brings efficiency and financial sustainability to hospitals, clinics, and diagnostic centers. Article content Article content Article content Article content Contacts Article content Article content Article content
Times of Oman
6 days ago
- General
- Times of Oman
Brazil's Lula released after treatment for inner ear issue
Brasilia: Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has been diagnosed with an inflammation of the inner ear after suffering from vertigo, hospital officials in Brasilia said Monday. Lula, 79, was treated in hospital and has already returned to the country's official presidential residence in the capital city where he is resting. In a statement, the Sirio-Libanes Hospital said Lula had undergone imaging and blood tests, the results of "which were all normal." The leftist president, who is expected to run for reelection next year, has a history of medical issues. On October 19 last year, he fell in the bathroom at the presidential Alvorada Palace, leaving him with a concussion and requiring several stitches. That accident forced him to cancel a planned trip to Russia to attend a BRICS summit. Nearly two months later, he underwent surgery in a Sao Paulo hospital after suffering headaches from a brain bleed which stemmed from that fall in October. Lula was discharged on December 15. He has also suffered from high blood pressure — also known hypertension — survived throat cancer in 2011 and had a prosthetic hip replacement in 2023. Lula is in his third term as Brazil's president, after serving two mandates between 2003 and 2010.
Medscape
09-05-2025
- Health
- Medscape
Blackout in Iberia: Is Europe Prepared for Future Crises?
Tiago Villanueva It was after 11 AM on what would otherwise have been a normal Monday morning. Tiago Villanueva, a general practitioner (GP), was preparing to go to his clinic in Lisbon, Portugal, when he realized he had no power. 'I thought it was like a local power outage; so temporary and would last for a few minutes,' he said. 'But I started seeing messages that this was apparently something nationwide, then actually international? And then it dawned on me that it was something very serious.' On April 28, 2025, Portugal, Spain, and parts of France were hit by a massive power outage, leaving millions without electricity. It impacted every aspect of society, including transportation and healthcare. By the time Villanueva arrived at the GP clinic, his colleagues were seeing patients but had resorted to working the way they did 20 years ago, writing prescriptions by hand. The phones were only working intermittently, which meant patients could not call in and use phone-based triage services. Eventually, most GPs in this and other practices were sent home. 'Primary care essentially ground to a halt,' Villanueva said, with only some doctors left in place in case patients walked through the door with an emergency. At first, there were concerns about the disruption of the cold chain: The deterioration of vaccines stored in fridges at GP surgeries with no power. But because GP practices and local hospitals in Portugal were merged last year to form local health units, this was quickly resolved in a nationwide effort. 'Hospitals came to pick up the vaccines from the surrounding GP practices and store them in the hospital because they had power,' said Villaneuva, who is also president of the European Union (EU) of General Practitioners. Hospitals had back-up generators, so intensive care and other vital services remained operational. Primary care essentially ground to a halt Tiago Villanueva The worst problem for primary care, however, was that many emergency responses couldn't be coordinated from the local health units because there was no internet at GP surgeries. By Monday afternoon, the mobile phone network, which was also running on generators, had to prioritize phone calls and shut down all data services. 'All of a sudden you couldn't receive messages at all,' Villanueva said. Villaneuva's is just one story among millions across the Iberian Peninsula on that fateful Monday. Reports from hospitals across Spain suggested GP clinics were cancelled, emergency patients and intensive care units were prioritized, and the infrastructure, for the most part, held up. Bernardo Materio Gomes But there were also reports that immobile patients could not be moved between hospital floors because elevators weren't working. In Portugal, chronic patients at home with ventilation equipment found they had no power. Villaneuva said there was panic-buying in supermarkets, and that petrol pumps and ATMs were also not working. Bernardo Materio Gomes, a public health physician and president of the Portuguese Association of Public Health Physicians, said things could have been worse. Within 10 minutes of the outage, Gomes was in position within the Civil Protection offices, an agency whose task it is to deal with emergencies. He witnessed the response from there. 'In general in healthcare, it went okay, with no major damage done,' said Gomes. 'But it would have been different if the outage had gone on for 24 or 48 hours.' My main concern is to learn collectively from what went less than okay, because we will have diverse threats in the environment that we're living in. Bernardo Materio Gomes Longer, and the generators supporting the health infrastructure would have begun to run out of fuel. Some hospitals started to run out of fuel even during the outage. This is where cracks in the back-up plans began to show. First, problems linking solar power connections to hospital generators could not be fixed in the middle of the crisis. Then, one of the major fuel suppliers in Portugal shut down their fuel pumps because, ironically, they required electricity to release diesel. This had a direct impact on the healthcare system. 'We need to understand that the movement of people, especially health professionals, relies on fuel,' said Gomes. Gomes said many patients needing electricity to power their ventilators found their way to hospitals. But in the future, it will be important to prepare rooms within health units like GP clinics or hospitals with generators for these patients. Other lessons learned include the need to create a back-up communication system within healthcare to better coordinate the emergency response during future crises, more of which are expected, he said. 'My main concern is to learn collectively from what went less than okay because we will have diverse threats in the environment that we're living in,' said Gomes, who is part of a group currently reviewing Portuguese national preparedness. 'But we have a lot of preparation to do in order to succeed in overcoming those challenges.' Plans Around Europe That more and different kinds of shocks are inevitable is a sentiment held not just in Portugal but across Europe. Eva Hrnčířová 'The EU as a whole is increasingly faced with unprecedented risks of different kinds that we need to prepare for,' Eva Hrnčířová, spokesperson on preparedness and health at the European Commission, told Medscape Medical News . 'This concerns rising geopolitical tensions, cyberattacks, protection of critical infrastructure but also pandemics or the effects of climate change.' At the end of March, the European Commission even proposed a Preparedness Union Strategy, a 30-point plan to deal with future disasters at a European level. Included is preparedness training in schools, a risk warning system, EU-wide stockpiles of food, medicines, and other critical resources, and the development of guidelines to ensure populations can be self-sufficient for at least 72 hours. 'It is a practical, commonsense measure that allows individuals and families to cope during the critical early phase of any crisis, such as the electrical power cuts…in the Iberian Peninsula,' said Hrnčířová. There has been some criticism of the strategy, not least for its potential to panic citizens, such as a proposal for individual 3-day preparedness kits. But whatever European countries decide collectively, many are already planning for crises at the national level. Emergency planning simulation exercises are commonplace in the United Kingdom and France, for example. Some countries are instituting national and regional stockpiles, early warning systems, and developing risk assessments. In Belgium, medical students are taught war medicine. The Netherlands has divided its territory into so-called safety regions to deal with emergency responses and has created a new model emergency plan for GP care. What the blackout in Portugal and Spain has done is to stress-test established systems and expose cracks that everybody should learn from, said Villaneuva. At the very least there should be a rethink of the role of primary care in emergency responses in Portugal. 'I think you should have local leads who should be trained and prepared to be the point person for primary care when something like this happens,' he said.
