Fred Rabelo

Nearly half of the world's population lacks comprehensive access to basic health services. In addition, nearly 100 million people are pushed into extreme poverty because they have to pay for health services out of their own pockets. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), nearly 12% of the world's population spends at least 10% of their household budget on health services. 

This situation has been experienced by Brazilian engineer Fred Rabelo, who grew up in a middle-/low-class family. He says, "I know what it's like to need quality healthcare." To facilitate access to quality healthcare globally, he has created Ti.Saúde, , a health platform that connects patients with health professionals. For this breakthrough, Rabelo has been chosen by MIT Technology Review in Spanish as one of the winners of Innovators under 35 Latin America 2020. 

Ti.Saúde makes it possible to schedule and make teleconsultations securely and monitor patients remotely, especially the chronically ill and those at risk. With the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), Ti.Saúde provided free care to 10,000 people in Brazil who did not have access to healthcare, says the Innovator. At the healthcare worker level, Ti.Saúde is already used by 3,400 healthcare workers in Brazil, where they have their patients' information just a click away. Rabelo has facilitated telemedicine and the transition to digital clinical care. "It is not only used to provide care, but also to interact. Doctors can talk to patients after seeing them. We have a multichannel tool via SMS, WhatsApp and telephone. We manage to automate the institution's communication with the patient. Patients are assisted remotely," the engineer explains. The platform is available for both private healthcare and the public system. 

The creator of Ti.Saúde wants to expand the platform in Latin America by translating it into Spanish. He also hopes to invest in artificial intelligence for automated patient monitoring. So far, the platform has also reached Mozambique and Angola.  

Arnoldo Müller Molina, data scientist and inventor at simMachines (USA) and member of the Innovators under 35 Latin America 2020 jury, points out that the platform "offers services to many people and protects vulnerable healthcare workers by allowing them to work from home." And he considers Ti.Saúde's approach to be "very interesting and fresh."