Qualcomm Life, a wholly owned subsidiary of Qualcomm, and Orange Business Services, through its International M2M centre located in Brussels, have announced a collaboration in which Qualcomm Life will use Orange Business Services’ M2M connectivity services in Europe for its 2net Platform to seamlessly connect health care providers and millions of patients and enable secure remote monitoring for various chronic diseases.
In Europe, chronic disease accounts for the majority of disease incidence and deaths. The World Health Organization’s (WHO) project 'The Global Burden of Disease' estimates that, in 2002, chronic or non-communicable conditions accounted for 87 percent of deaths in high-income countries, while only 7% of deaths were attributed to communicable conditions and nutritional deficiencies and 6% to injuries.
'eHealth is a strategic growth area for Orange,' said Thierry Zylberberg, executive vice president, Orange Healthcare. 'We are very happy to work with Qualcomm Life to contribute to another e-health solution that is a great example of how mobile technology enables access to affordable, improved health care services for a wide population.'
The burden of chronic conditions and diseases in Europe is growing as the population ages, notes WHO. The proportion of those in European countries aged 65 years and older is projected to grow from 15% in 2000 to 23.5% by 2030. The proportion of those age 80 years and over is expected to more than double from 3% in 2000 to 6.4% in 2030.
'This important collaboration with Orange Business Services and the use of their connectivity services represents a significant milestone in our goal of obtaining certification for our 2net Platform and launching Qualcomm Life in Europe,' said Rick Valencia, vice president and general manager of Qualcomm Life. 'Our efforts with Orange Business Services enables our support of 2net customers in their European businesses and the acceleration of wireless health services in Europe to help manage or prevent the chronic health conditions millions of people are suffering from in the region.'
'Qualcomm Life’s decision to choose Orange is a great recognition of our unmatched M2M quality of service and global footprint of 220 countries and territories,' said Anne-Marie Thiollet, vice president of the enterprise line of business, Orange Business Services. 'With over 200 experts dedicated to M2M and supporting 2.5 million active M2M connections, and a targeted team in North America, Orange Business Services is committed to using mobile technology to deliver innovative solutions and services on a global scale, particularly in the health care domain. We bring together key expertise backed by a strong strategy in machine-to-machine, and we are happy to offer it to Qualcomm Life today.'
