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The mental health crisis in the United States has long been brewing with known barriers to care, including limited access, affordability, and stigma. In 2017, well before the COVID-19 pandemic, a quarter of adults with mental illness reported unmet needs for mental health treatment, and 60% of young people with major depression did not receive treatment.

Over the past year, the pandemic's prolonged and wide-spread isolation has amplified both the mental health crisis and the challenges of treating chronic diseases. The inter-relationship between mental health and chronic diseases has only become more evident as Americans find themselves shouldering the stress and anxiety of new realities like social distancing, shelter-in-place orders, unemployment, and illness.

Emergencies reveal what is possible under pressure. The pandemic has revealed our systemic failings and our core competencies, and has in both cases revealed itself as a moment digital health can meet. Before the pandemic hit, 2020 was already slated to fall in line as another record-breaking funding year for digital health. Instead, 2020 broke 2019’s funding numbers by a whopping 55% topping out at $21.5 billion globally.

Agents Of Change: A Digital Health Forum was designed to be a conference like no other.

Formerly known as Signing Day (an in-person celebration to welcome startups into the G4A’s Partnership Program), pandemic restrictions forced organizers into creating new opportunities. G4A jumped at the chance to expand their impact and their invite list, turning Signing Day into an all-access conference with a speaking roster of leaders across public health, tech, pharma, government, and finance.

Many of the most costly chronic diseases, both economically and in quality of life, can be alleviated by changes to lifestyle that are notoriously difficult to implement, especially at scale. As such, swapping old habits for new ones - or what we call Behavior Change - is arguably the single most promising sector of healthcare today. 

For 352 million women worldwide the pain associated with Endometriosis and Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) often falls on deaf ears. And for the millions more experiencing Menopause, the disruptive symptoms are written off as “normal.” Women’s pain has long been pushed aside, ignored, downplayed, even relegated to an apparition or a mental health issue. 

The two terms that make up ‘empathetic technology’ seem like antonyms, but their intersection is proving to be a rich opportunity for innovation. At its essence Empathetic Technology strives to bring humans and technology into greater symbiosis than ever before.

The Social Determinants of Health, as a phrase, is polite - a synonym for how income inequality dictates health status. As a concept, it is more complex, encompassing the myriad social structures around us, many that influence our ability to reach actualization. Basic services and our access to them is fundamental (Maslow), beginning with the physiological - air, water, food, sleep, shelter, clothing, reproduction - and safety - personal security, employment, resources, health. The methods for which we fulfill our basic needs is more or less dependent upon financial security.

Bubble baths, long walks on the beach, farm-to-table meals…. As it turns out, these self-love activities are also good for the heart. Stress reduction, quality time in nature, proper movement, and eating well are all part of a heart-healthy regime that your heart will thank you for. Self-love is truly cardiac love. 

This is especially good news because it’s squarely within our power to live well. It’s when the heart isn’t well, however, that cardiac disease can strike. Cardiovascular disease, broadly defined as “heart conditions that include diseased vessels, structural problems, and blood clots,” claims a life every 37 seconds in the United States. Globally, the figure looks more like 17.9 million deaths per year.

Now that we’re well settled into 2020, and the frenzy that is CES and JPM Week are behind us, we have a few predictions about how the next months will go. It’s a unique time in the world. The political climate has pushed us into a state of extreme discourse in which our values must become increasingly precise, while in parallel, the digital health sector has matured significantly. The weight of collective accountability has sparked new avenues for innovation strategy, investment dollars, and ultimately is in service of the patients, the people. At G4A, we anticipate seeing an emphasis on historically underrepresented sectors of the healthcare space, namely, women’s health care issues, addiction, and social factors in big ways in 2020.