Recording AHEAD webinar on medical deserts diagnostic tool

On November 21, Wemos and our partners in the project Action for Health and Equity: Addressing medical Deserts (AHEAD) organised a webinar about tackling and preventing medical deserts with our innovative Medical Deserts Diagnostic Tool, which policymakers and others can use for evidence-based policy measures to address medical deserts. The recording is now available on YouTube. 

During the webinar, our panel, consisting of the AHEAD partners, shared their experience with applying the Medical Deserts Diagnostic Tool in Italy, Moldova, the Netherlands, Romania and Serbia. 

Our tool includes interactive maps that visualize indicators related to different aspects of medical desertification in the focus countries of our project, i.e. Italy, Moldova, the Netherlands, Romania and Serbia. For example, one of the maps shows the number of general-practitioners (GPs) in provinces in Italy, visualizing the GP density and thereby showing an indication of which areas (and their inhabitants) are vulnerable to the process of medical desertification and associated limited access to health care. 

Moderator: 

• Stefan Mandic-Rajcevic  – Data research analyst and medical doctor (University of Belgrade, Serbia). 

Panelists: 

• Corinne Hinlopen – Project officer for AHEAD (Wemos, Netherlands).
• Bianca Ferraiolo – Head of the Representative Office to the EU (Cittadinanzattiva, Italy).
• Milena Santric Milicevic – Prof Social Medicine (University of Belgrade, Serbia).
• Mirela Mustata – Director of Programmes (Center for Health Policies and Services, Romania).
• Sergiu Otgon – Human resources for health expert (National Public Health Agency, Republic of Moldova). 

With the AHEAD project, we aim to reduce health inequalities by addressing the challenge of medical deserts and medical desertification in Europe. The team behind the project consists of the Center for Health Policies and Services (Romania), Cittadinanza Attiva (Italy), Media Education Centre (Serbia), National School for Public Health Management (Moldova), Wemos (lead partner organisation – Netherlands), and VU Athena (Netherlands). Visit the AHEAD website for more information: www.ahead.health.