With apps, trackers and online platforms for ideal healthcare

29.08.2023 14:32

The new Lausitz Center for Digital Public Health at the Brandenburg Technical University Cottbus-Senftenberg (BTU) is researching the opportunities and risks of the digital development of healthcare in the region. The project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

People's health is closely linked to the living conditions in which they grow up and live. Digital health offerings are becoming increasingly relevant in everyday life. They hold potential but also risks in terms of disease prevention, health promotion and care. In collaboration with the Robert Koch Institute and the Leibniz Science Campus Digital Public Health, scientists are researching the new Lausitz Center for Digital Public Health (LauZeDiPH) in Senftenberg these aspects for the population in Lusatia.

“Our central concern is to find out how the further development of health care, promotion and research in Lusatia, supported by digital solutions, can improve people’s situation in reality and reduce health inequalities,” explains Prof. Dr. Jacob Spallek, who runs the new center. “Since access to, use and effects of health services are often distributed differently across the population, we need knowledge about what specific needs there are and what ideas local people have regarding the further development of health care.”

Federal Minister of Education and Research Bettina Stark-Watzinger explains: “The use of digital technologies is a great opportunity for the further development and improvement of health care. However, this opportunity can only be implemented if the needs and requirements of citizens are the focus. The Lausitz Center for Digital Public Health (LauZeDiPH) therefore focuses on precisely these new, digital health offerings. The goal is clear: The Lausitz center will use its research results to help develop tailor-made health promotion and prevention measures. That is why the Federal Ministry of Research is supporting this promising center with over four million euros over the next nine years.”

Brandenburg's Science Minister Dr. Manja Schüle: “Our health system is facing a variety of challenges. We need more doctors – and we need answers on how high-quality medical and nursing care can be ensured in the future. Our answer to this: the establishment of university medicine in Cottbus with a focus on health system research and the digitalization of the health care system - one of the state government's most ambitious projects in the structural development of Lusatia. The new Lausitz Center for Digital Public Health at the BTU is a perfect addition to our university medicine and a welcome strengthening of Senftenberg as a study location. I am convinced that this will make it possible to develop new care models for rural regions and ensure medical care close to home – in the interest of the people. The structural strengtheners are money well spent.”

BTU President Prof. Dr. Gesine Grande: “With the Lausitz Center for Digital Public Health, we are creating new approaches and opportunities for digital disease prevention, health promotion and care in structurally weak rural areas. Digital technologies offer new opportunities for patients to play a self-determined role in the treatment process and strengthen their health literacy. Together with scientific partners such as the Robert Koch Institute and the Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology as well as health experts from the region, we are continuing to expand health research along our profile line 'Health and Life Science' at our location in Senftenberg."

Perspectives, needs and ideas of the people of Lusatia

The scientists collect new data and link it with existing data from various areas of health care, population statistics and health reporting in order to create a comprehensive database for research on health, health care and living situations in Lusatia. The survey and presentation of the population's own perspectives, needs and ideas are a focus of the new center - especially in the context of the structurally changing living conditions in the region.

“The survey of objective and subjective care needs as well as people's attitudes towards digital offers serves to develop needs- and needs-oriented offers both for individual care practice and for population-related programs,” says Stephanie Hoffmann, summing up the goals of the Lausitz Center for Digital Public Health together. The research assistant in the health sciences department at the BTU coordinates the new center.

“We are pleased to be able to conduct research together with our partners in Lusatia on central questions relating to digital technologies for public health and healthcare,” says Prof. Dr. Hajo Zeeb, spokesman for the Leibniz Science Campus Digital Public Health and head of the Prevention and Evaluation Department at the Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology – BIPS. He adds: “Over the years, the Leibniz ScienceCampus in Bremen has gained a lot of valuable experience and insights that we can now build on together.”

“The digitalization of health promotion, disease prevention and health care in the structural change region of Lausitz promises long-term structural additions, with opportunities to maintain and improve the health situation and care of the population,” says Katharina Ladewig, Center for Artificial Intelligence in Public Health Research (ZKI -PH). “I am pleased that we can finally start our plan to establish the LauZeDiPH to enable a continuous analysis of population health (so-called surveillance) in Lausitz and to measure long-term intervention effects. The results find important anchor points in regional structural change.”

The Center for Artificial Intelligence in Public Health Research at the Robert Koch Institute (ZKI-PH) in Wildau and the Leibniz ScienceCampus Digital Public Health (LSC) from Bremen are cooperation partners with proven expertise in data management - including big data, artificial intelligence. as well as involved in the project in evidence-based and digitalization in public health and prevention. The project is funded for a period of nine years by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the Coal Structural Strengthening Act. As part of the Lausitz Science Park, the Lausitz Center for Digital Public Health is the second approved project of the Biotech Health Campus that is currently being set up at the Senftenberg location of the BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg.