Using Outer Space in the Fight Against Ebola

Image courtesy of NASA

As Ebola infection rates fall, researchers like Assistant Professor at the Department of Family and Community Medicine, Farhan Asrar are looking at what could have been done to assist the most recent outbreak in West Africa. Asrar is the project lead and lead author for a publication in The Lancet Infectious Diseases examining the use of outer space technology — like telemedicine, tele-epidemiology and satellites — in the fight against Ebola that can continue to benefit global health. This was an international project that involved experts from the United Nations, Public Health Agency of Canada, NASA, Canadian and European Space Agencies. U of T Medicine’s Caroline Klimek spoke with Asrar about these high-tech tools and the idea that the future is now. 

How do you train lay people to use telemedicine?

Tele-medicine in its different forms is currently being used in many locations including in Canada and other parts of the world. Right now, there are projects in Africa where people are going to remote villages and providing maternal medical care using portable ultrasounds and telemedicine. They do not have to be physicians. You can teach someone in the community to use the tools and share the data with experts to interpret. The same model is used among astronauts as not all of them are doctors. We can instruct and direct them on how to use the equipment. Then, the information is transmitted to experts who could be in the same building, same city or in another country or continent. That is what telemedicine can enable us to do.

How do you balance patient centred care with telemedicine? What becomes the priority – health care professionals (HCPs) or patients?

Telemedicine helps both groups. It enhances our ability to provide care for patients. For example, in a remote location where specialist care is not available, telemedicine allows you to bring that kind of expertise to the patient. Also, if you need to monitor patients’ parameters such as blood pressure or heart rate, you could also use telemedicine to do this. For HCPs, there is a need for HCPs on the ground to help address and manage the outbreak, but also a need to limit avoidable exposures and telemedicine could offer us that. The healthier the HCPs are, the better they can save other lives. When HCPs get sick, they become patients, too.

Is tracking treatment as important as tracking outbreak?

Both are equally important and go hand in hand. Managing and tracking an outbreak helps answer important questions — is the outbreak spreading? How good a job are we doing? Where should we focus our efforts? Where is the infection increasing? Satellites give us a bigger picture of what’s going on somewhere. Monitoring these conditions allows us to point out high-risk spots and put in preventative measures.

How did Tele-epidemiology and satellites assist the outbreak?  

Tele-epidemiology involves utilizing satellite images and space technology for epidemiological assessments. Organizations such as Médecins Sans Frontières were using satellites to assist with their response. Another unique assistance that space provided was through the United Nations’ activation of the ‘International Charter on Space and Major Disasters’ on behalf of World Health Organization to respond to the Ebola outbreak in October. This Charter is a collective of 12 space organizations that provide satellite images to assist the response to disasters and emergencies. It is typically activated for natural disasters and this was the first time it was activated for an infectious disease.

If a future outbreak should occur, what will we do differently thanks to these lessons?

The publication highlights that space has a lot to offer to health care and in particular infectious disease outbreaks. Options such telemedicine and tele-epidemiology are currently available and offer the ability to assist us in monitoring, managing and even preventing outbreaks.  Additionally, resources such as the Disaster Charter are available to assist disasters, outbreaks and other emergencies. We can take advantage of such technology and enhance health care through greater cooperation between humanitarian, global and public health organizations with the space sector.