The main aim of the Congress is to educate healthcare professionals and empower them to help their patients to better stick with their treatments and build steps toward better health
To crack the code of medicine adherence, many stakeholders from around the world must work together, sharing best practices and identifying common trends to drive this change. In line with this, Abbott recently hosted its second global a:care Congress, with the first session held on October 8, 2022, to help find tangible solutions for the pressing global challenge of medicine non-adherence. The main aim of the Congress is to educate healthcare professionals and empower them to help their patients to better stick with their treatments and build steps toward better health.
Abbott’s a:care initiative, integrating digital tools and behavioural science, takes a unique approach to improve adherence by empowering healthcare practitioners to support patients with small, manageable steps to help build better health habits.
The a:care Congress 2022, spearheading these solutions, was well received by members of the medical community, with over 55,000 healthcare professionals worldwide registering for the session. Out of these, close to 35,000 practitioners were from India alone. The a:care program has created a collaborative ecosystem and is globally endorsed by over 50 medical societies, with some from India, including the Association of Physicians of India, Diabetes India International, and the Indian Thyroid Society.
Ambati Venu, Vice President, Pharmaceuticals, Abbott India, commented, “As part of our relentless work to improve people’s health, Abbott is committed to improve adherence and access to quality medicines through innovative and sustainable approaches. Through the a:care Congress, we are excited to help shift the thinking from treating diseases to treating people and understand the regional drivers of the challenge. Led by behavioural science principles, we are aiming to reimagine adherence, so we can educate and empower clinicians, and help people take charge of their health.”
Dr Shashank Joshi, Endocrinologist, Diabetologist, and member of Maharashtra’s COVID-19 task force, said, “Medication non-adherence places a huge burden on our healthcare system. Among people with diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidaemia, up to 31 per cent of patients never fill their first prescription. Of those who do, only 50 to 70 per cent take their medication regularly. Addressing non-adherence through a patient-centered approach requires the involvement of all health system stakeholders. This can prevent or delay the onset of complications, reduce hospitalization risks and decrease healthcare costs, especially across therapy areas including hypertension, diabetes, and congestive heart failure.”
Preceding the a:care Congress, Abbott also hosted an exclusive virtual media knowledge session on October 6th, under the theme ‘Cracking the code of adherence – global challenge, tangible solutions.’ This session was led by world-renowned experts, including Prof. John Weinman, King’s College London, UK, Prof. Rob Horne, University College London, UK, and other key speakers.
Prof. John Weinman, Professor of Psychology as applied to Medicines in King’s College, said, “The 2022 a:care Congress has been built on the great success of last year’s ambitious a:care program. It has been planned to reach out to clinicians on a global scale in order to provide current evidence-based presentations on the causes and effective management of treatment adherence challenges in major health problems. By involving local and global experts from medicine and behavioral science, it will provide key insights for clinicians in order to facilitate the ways in which adherence challenges can be understood and managed in clinical practice.”
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