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masthead ifa 2020 consumer health event

Sep 03, 2020

Philips virtual consumer health press event – IFA 2020

Estimated reading time: 3-5 minutes

Philips discusses the future of consumer health and how COVID-19 has accelerated the transition to personalized, proactive, preventative care at home

This year’s Philips IFA press event, its first to be held virtually, put consumer trends in personal health in the spotlight during a fireside chat headlined as ‘Five ways our relationship with our health will change in 2021’ with Rianne Meijerman, Philips Head of Consumer Marketing, and Jeroen Tas, Philips Chief Innovation & Strategy Officer. Their answers can be summed up in five simple phrases – more personal, more proactive, home-based, preventative, and data-driven. More personalized because people will take an active interest and monitor their own health. More data-driven and proactive because the quantitative data consumers collect about their state of health will lead to new insights, and new insights will lead to actionable behaviors. Home based because people’s homes and everyday lives are the bedrock of behavior change. More preventative, because personal health will be holistic, rather than disease based.

 

Does this mean that health technology will end up ruling people’s lives?

Rianne is emphatic that is not the case. 

 

“It’s very important that you are in control of your own health. The technology is there to support you. To help you become a better health coach for yourself. To help you to get better outcomes than you would without the technology,” she says.

 

How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected the transition?

According to Jeroen Tas, the pandemic has proven that although they will never fully replace face-to-face interaction, ‘digital’ and ‘virtual’ are here to stay.

 

“The pandemic created a lot of awareness but also different ways to collaborate and communicate with your caregivers. There always was two-way video but it was not widely used, but within a matter of weeks those systems were up and running and people were using them,” says Jeroen. “And that extended to other things. For example, it took us a matter of weeks to create a cloud-based system that care providers could use to securely transfer a patient’s data as they go from hospital to hospital, which would have taken years. And it’s here to stay because it makes total sense.”

Expert sessions

Rianne and Jeroen’s fireside chat was followed later in the afternoon by three expert sessions outlining Philips’ approach to delivering personalized, proactive, preventative care in three key areas of consumer health.

 

Astrid Smeets, Senior Clinical and Medical Affairs Manager, discussed the importance of getting a healthy start in life, highlighting Philips solutions such as its Pregnancy+ and Baby+ apps, its latest Philips Avent electric breast pump, as well as remote monitoring solutions capable of ensuring the safety of expectant mothers and their unborn babies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

The importance of sleep was covered by Dr. Mark Aloia, Global Lead of Health Behavior Change. In particular, he highlights the link between sleep and the body’s immune system, something that recent events have made top-of-mind for many people. That if you get six hours or less of sleep, you are four times more likely to catch a cold or a virus. He then describes how clinically validated solutions such as Philips’ on-line Smart Sleep Analyzer, its intelligent Snoring Relief Band, and its SmartSleep Deep Sleep Headband can help consumers to improve the duration and quality of their sleep.

 

In the final expert session, Dr. Marilyn Ward, practicing dentist and Director of Clinical Research at Philips Healthcare, highlights the relationship between oral health and systemic health. How a healthy mouth, well maintained using solutions such as Philips’ DiamondClean 9000 electric toothbrush and its brand new Sonicare Power Flosser, is the gateway to a healthy body. In a time when most dentists offices have remained closed due to COVID-19, she also highlights the power of tele-dentistry to diagnose, advise and reassure patients who experience problems, as well as its ability to deliver personalized coaching for continuous oral care improvement.

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Laura Seikritt

Laura Seikritt

Philips Global Press Office

Tel.: +31 6 20740318

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